Tom Cruise used a infrequent CinemaCon appearance on Thursday to pay tribute to the behind schedule Val Kilmer and show a trailer from Paramount/
Tom Cruise used a infrequent CinemaCon appearance on Thursday to pay tribute to the behind schedule Val Kilmer and show a trailer from Paramount/Skydance’s early summer release and possible Cannes out of competition slot Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.
Cruise walked on stage at The Colosseum in Caesars Palace to sustained whoops from attendees and immediately paid brief tribute to his Top Gun co-star Kilmer, who died this week.
“I can’t tell you how much I admired his work,” Cruise said. “He loved movies and he gave a lot to all of us with his performance and his films,” the star said, before asking for a moment’s silence.
After that, Cruise spoke lovingly about his longtime collaborator and CinemaCon Director Of The Year award recipient Christopher McQuarrie, who wrote and directed May 23 release Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. The filmmaker has directed Cruise on multiple entries in the action franchise and Jack Reacher, and was the writer on hits like Top Gun: Maverick, Valkyrie, and Edge Of Tomorrow.
“McQ and I have been working together for a very long time,” said Cruise, regaling the audience with tales and making special mention of McQuarrie’s work in safely steering the last two Mission: Impossible films and working as a writer on Maverick through Covid and the Hollywood strikes.
“Because of Christopher McQuarrie we were able to keep the show on the road,” Cruise said, adding: “You are not only my dear friend, creative brother… you are our modern-day [Hollywood pioneer Irving] Thalberg.”
Cruise also paid tribute to the Paramount hierarchy and his Mission: Impossible collaborators down the years.
The eighth entry in the Mission: Impossible spy action reunites Cruise as Ethan Hunt with regular cast Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, and Esai Morales.
Paramount will be looking to beat the $571m global tentpole for 2023’s Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One. In total, the action franchise has earned more than $4bn worldwide.
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