Tom Cruise, noted savior of cinema-going culture, is back again to get those butts back in theater seats, but one man is standing directly in his way: Christopher Nolan.
Yep, the upcoming Mission: Impossible 7 is set to open July 12, but it will only be on IMAX screens for a single 7-day week, because Nolan’s Oppenheimer has locked every screen in North America for Oppenheimer on July 21.
That means Cruise‘s latest masterpiece, partially filmed here in the UAE with a budget of $300 million plus, will be relegated to normal screens in favor of an R-rated biopic on a scientist, which has understandably left the Top Gun: Maverick star fuming.
According to Puck News‘ Matthew Belloni, Cruise has been personally calling everyone in the industry, from theater bosses to studio executives, as well as the big wigs at Paramount, who are releasing MI:7, trying to get them to change their minds and give at least some of the premium screens to his new film.
What’s his reasoning? According to the source, it’s for the good of the entire theatrical business, especially as his film is built to genuinely bust those blocks, whereas the Cillian Murphy-starring biopic of the man who helped invent the atomic bomb is more niche on its face, and the adult rating limits the audience considerably compared to what the Mission Impossible series has to offer.
Why Tom Cruise is right
The guy makes sense. Top Gun: Maverick made nearly $1.5 billion globally, pulling in audiences of all ages and had such long legs that it’s actually still showing in Dubai theaters. We’re serious, go check.
Oppenheimer is not the action blockbuster that Nolan has delivered in the past, and even his last set piece laden film, Tenet, flopped, though that was in part due to the pandemic, though many did complain about the confusing plot and hard to hear dialogue.
Does Nolan even still have the sauce? Impossible to say. But the project itself, while garnering significant interest from film buffs, may not cross over to general audiences in the way that a film like Cruise’s, or Avatar: The Way of Water, manages to do.
Top Gun, by the way, came at the most important time, when a genuine existential crisis made the entire industry question whether the cinema model still worked, which Cruise answered in a big way. Streaming has since shown cracks in the filament, so it’s hugely important he did so. Heck, even Spielberg gave him credit.
Also, dude risks his life for this stuff. Of course he takes it as seroiusly as life and death–it is!
Why Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer deserves a chance
Nolan, of course, should not be underestimated. His films have made him the most important auteur working today, after bringing so much unmistakable artistic energy to the Batman franchise that he has been able to become a brand to himself, with Inception and Interstellar both two of the most iconic films of the century thus far.
Oppenheimer is also filmed with IMAX film, and he’s been the biggest ambassador globally for the format, which explains why they are so keen to give him their theaters.
Nolan has even shown that he’s willing to grow with the times, even working with top TikTokers to show off why he thinks all the youngsters need to go see the film in IMAX.
Seriously, watch it below: