Tom Cruise’s never-ending action flick streaks have been the primary cash-grabber skyrocketing the net worth of the actor. Inherently, Cruise’s name is enough to dominate the box office as he carefully forged his record with several astounding movies in his career.
Notably, Cruise delivers what the audience wants. Fans have a preconceived notion that the actor will be involved in the action scenes to the bone risking his life on the line. However, it was never a cheap endeavor. Of course, Cruise will never agree to give up his first-hand taste of adrenaline-rushing action scenes but he always makes sure to secure a great deal out of it.
Top Gun: Maverick Was A Gold Mine For Tom Cruise
About 36 years after the release of Tony Scott’s Top Gun, Joseph Kosinski brought back Tom Cruise as Capt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, adding a sequel to the acclaimed action thriller released in 1986. Top Gun: Maverick hit the theaters in 2022 and found a way to create a box office record being just behind James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water. Top Gun: Maverick— second highest grosser of the year— earned nearly $1.5 billion at the global box office, an astonishing feat for Cruise.
While Cruise took a salary of $12.5 million upfront for the film, the backend ticket sales deal with Paramount Pictures made him about $100 million in total. As per Forbes, “Cruise gets over 10% of the first dollar gross”— meaning the money Paramount collected from the ticket sales after the theaters cut (typically 50%)— which translates to his $100 million earnings from the 2022 movie. The actor also applied the strategy with some earlier movies including War of the Worlds which, per reports, also earned him $100 million. Now, if Top Gun 3 gets the greenlight, Cruise may earn an even higher number adding to his estimated net worth of $600 million.
Also read: ‘Top Gun 3’ Can Debunk a Tragic Rumor About Tom Cruise in Top Gun: Maverick
The Unstoppable Tom Cruise
Cruise, 61, still has the prowess for his adrenaline boost for more than one sequel. He did the second installment of the franchise with ease. “It wasn’t that hard,” Cruise said of his training for Top Gun: Maverick as he spoke with Screen Rant.
“No, absolutely not. Absolutely not. Listen, the whole point of making films and the beauty of it is that you get to travel the world and see other cultures and be part of communities. To look and walk in someone else’s shoes and feel what they are [feeling]. Making movies, you’re constantly learning; you have to constantly work to become more and more competent in many different fields. And I want to tell them, that’s the beauty of making movies. That’s why I’ve always pushed my films to go international, around the world and in different communities. And to be part of that right from the beginning. It was my dream.”
Cruise adds, “You got to work,” continuing, “It’s not a bunch of parties and doing that, and that’s what I love. And then they get to enjoy this evening.” The actor is certainly living his dream and with his current high-spirited enthusiasm for movies, he will appear in many action movies including a potential Top Gun 3.
Top Gun can be streamed on Paramount Plus and Top Gun: Maverick is available to stream on Prime Video.
