A year ago, Tom Cruise returned to the big screen following a four-year hiatus with the long-awaited Top Gun: Maverick, which went on to become one of the highest-grossing movies of 2022. Now the actor is just weeks away from being back in theaters, this time for Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One, the seventh entry in the action franchise. But just because Cruise is focused on promoting his highly-anticipated feature doesn’t mean he’s interested in any of the other 2023 new movie releases. Far from it, as he praised The Flash back in May, and now he’s hyping up Indiana Jones 5, Oppenheimer and more.
Cruise went on Instagram to share some pictures of himself and Dead Reckoning writer/director Christopher McQuarrie attending early screenings of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Oppenheimer and Barbie, with that first feature just a couple days away from wide release, and the latter two arriving in July. But Cruise also took some time to compliment these three movies in his post, saying:
This summer is full of amazing movies to see in theaters. These are just a few that we can’t wait to see on the big screen. Congratulations, Harrison Ford, on 40 years of Indiana Jones and creating one of the most iconic characters in cinema history. You have given us countless hours of joy. I love a double feature, and it doesn’t get more explosive (or more pink) than one with Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer and Greta Gerwig’s Barbie.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is both one of June 2023’s final cinematic offerings and Harrison Ford’s final outing as the adventuring archaeologist, whom he first played in 1981’s Raiders of the Lost Ark. It’s truly the end of an era and follows years after Ford made his final appearances as Han Solo in The Force Awakens and The Rise of Skywalker. Like so many of us, Cruise has spent years enjoying the Indiana Jones movies, so having seen Dial of Destiny ahead of the public, he’s making sure to help give it a little extra promotion. Indiana Jones 5 has so far been met with mixed critical reception; CinemaBlend’s own Sarah El-Mahmoud gave it 4 out of 5 stars in her review.
As for Oppenheimer and Barbie, those movies are both opening on July 21, and while we’re a ways off from getting a read on how they’ll be critically received, it goes without saying that they’ll offer drastically different cinematic experiences. I doubt Cruise will be alone in taking them in as double features over that opening day weekend, though then the question becomes which one will you prioritize first. One thing Oppenheimer and Barbie do share in common are boasting large and impressive lineups of actors; Oppenheimer’s cast includes Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr., Matt Damon and Emily Blunt, and Barbie’s cast sees Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling performing opposite people like Will Ferrell, Kate McKinnon, Simu Liu and America Ferrera.
Meanwhile, those of you looking forward to Ethan Hunt fight to save the world yet again will be able to do so when Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One is released on June 12. Like most of the Mission: Impossible movies, the first half of Dead Reckoning has already received a lot of positive reactions, and it’s also been announced that the Mission: Impossible podcast Light the Fuse is becoming the franchise’s official podcast companion ahead of the new movie’s arrival.
