Back in the day, sequels weren’t part of Tom Cruise’s game plan. He cranked out original movie after original movie, and Hollywood was happy. However, now that he’s promoting his fifth Mission: Impossible movie, Cruise seems to be singing a different tune… and is even coming up with story ideas for his own sequels, a rare event for sure.
Tom Cruise was in New York City to plug Mission Impossible – Rogue Nation, and was asked by MTV about possibly following up his critically acclaimed sci-fi thriller Edge of Tomorrow. To our surprise, Cruise said that he had an idea for a sequel, saying:
I pitched it to [Christopher] McQuarrie and [Edge of Tomorrow director] Doug [Liman]. We were there one night and I was like, ‘I’ve got an idea for it.’ … It could be so much fun. Gotta get Emily [Blunt]. I was like, ‘Emily, please.’ She was like, ‘Give me another year, please.’"
Now, we are a long way from "Tom Cruise has an idea" to "I’ll see you at the World Premiere." But there’s hope. And if you saw Doug Liman’s thrilling movie, hope is good enough. Edge of Tomorrow underperformed at the domestic box office when it hit theaters last year, despite incredible reviews and a strong push by the film critic community. Word-of-mouth helped the movie as it continued to screen, and it eventually crossed the $100-million mark. Barely.
As with many of Cruise’s movies, though, Edge did better overseas, banking a robust $369M internationally. That’s sequel money, particularly if the star can get his director and screenwriter on board. As he says, it’s very important to get co-star Emily Blunt involved. Her tenacity and fortitude as war veteran Rita was just as important to the success of the initial film, and audiences likely would want to see these two together on screen again in whatever adventure Cruise has planned.
What’s surprising, to a certain extent, is how open Cruise now appears to be on sequels after avoiding them for so many years. In addition to the Mission: Impossible franchise, Cruise is circling Top Gun 2 and a second Jack Reacher movie. He’s also pitching Edge of Tomorrow 2. Has he turned a corner on the concept of sequels? Is it a bid to win back larger audiences? Or will he just balance passion projects with more sequels, the way other actors do? Either way, if they do a second Edge of Tomorrow, can we get a different title? Maybe Live. Die. Repeat. Repeat?
