As one of the world’s biggest movie stars, Tom Cruise is a huge advocate for the theatrical experience. He’s made it his mission to do anything he can to keep theaters flourishing, even if that means risking his life for death-defying stunts that audiences can see on the big screen or lying to studios and countries during the pandemic to keep productions going.
Cruise’s belief in theaters paid off with Top Gun: Maverick becoming the summer blockbuster of 2022 as it grossed over $1.4 billion worldwide. With phrases like “we’ll see you at the movies” now becoming a signature of his, he’s embraced a position as the biggest champion of theaters, a title that only Christopher Nolan may be able to challenge.
One of the ways Cruise has done it is by going out of his way to “endorse” various films as titles people must go see in theaters. He did this in years past with Tenet, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Barbie, Oppenheimer, and Twisters posting on social media that he went to the theater to see the film and encouraging audiences to do the same.
This trend has continued in 2025, with the A-list star throwing his name behind a few major titles. In each case, they are films that he believes deserve to be seen on the big screen, and almost all also involve people with whom Cruise has worked closely in his career. These are the five 2025 films with the Tom Cruise sign of approval.
5
Sinners
Ryan Coogler’s vampire-filled horror/musical about black artists, Sinners, is one of the best movies of 2025. Starring Michael B. Jordan, Delroy Lindo, Miles Caton, Wunmi Mosaku, Hailee Steinfeld, and Jack O’Connell, the film shocked everyone with how well it did in theaters.
Warner Bros. bet big on Coogler’s vision, and audiences responded incredibly well, resulting in a $366 million box office haul. Cruise had no involvement with the making of Sinners, nor has he ever worked with Coogler or Jordan before. But that didn’t stop him from praising the film on social media after he saw it during its second weekend in theaters.
Cruise took it upon himself to congratulate “Ryan [Coogler], Michael [B. Jordan], and to the entire cast and crew” in his social media post before telling his followers that it’s a “must see in a cinema,” surprisingly without a mention of the film’s IMAX availability.
So why did Cruise support Sinners? He did sign an exclusive deal with Warner Bros. last year, but he didn’t make any effort to highlight something like A Minecraft Movie from the studio. This may have just been a case of the actor loving seeing an original genre movie made by people he admires do well in theaters.
In addition to highlighting a great theatrical experience, Cruise may also have thrown support behind Sinners out of an interest in working with Coogler and Jordan in the future. The latter came to Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning’s London premiere afterwards, and Cruise suggested he’d love to make a movie with him. Perhaps something is in the works?
4
Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning
Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt holding the key in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
In the least shocking development, Cruise desperately wanted people to see his movie, Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning​​​​​​, in theaters this year. Leading up to its release over Memorial Day weekend, he did everything he could to promote the final film in the franchise.
While this included plenty of posts on social media, Cruise also had many more responsibilities to promote this one. Late-night talk shows, press junkets, premieres around the world, and more were done to put butts in seats. He even did a long interview with Pat McAfee on ESPN to try and really drum up interest with male audiences.
His tireless promotional tour mostly paid off. The Final Reckoning made $598 million at the box office, which marked an increase on Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning​​​​​​’s performance. As the film did well, Cruise made sure to thank all the filmmakers, crew members, and co-stars he had, as well as every theater that carried the film for a record opening weekend and all the employees who worked at the locations.
3
Ballerina
Ana de Armas as Eve walking through dancers in Ballerina
On the heels of The Final Reckoning’s release, Cruise showed his support for a “rival” action movie. The first-ever John Wick spinoff movie, Ballerina, came out two weeks later with the hopes of continuing the Keanu Reeves-led franchise’s surging success.
Keanu returned as the mostly silent hitman for a small part, with Ana de Armas stepping into the lead role of Ballerina. While Cruise has praised the John Wick franchise in the past, it was Armas’ involvement in the picture that led the actor to give the film his support on social media.
Cruise shared his personal opinion on the spinoff before this, as he called it “just kick a**” in his Ballerina review. So when it came time for a social media post, he used it as a way to encourage audiences to see two action movies in a single weekend. This was likely due to his relationship with Ana de Armas.
Ahead of Ballerina’s release, it was revealed that she would co-star with Cruise in the Doug Liman-directed supernatural underwater movie Deeper. It was then reported that the two performers were in a romantic relationship. However, Deeper has hit setbacks since then, and the romance has reportedly ended.
For Cruise, backing Ballerina was another chance to support a colleague and close acquaintance. That didn’t wind up benefiting the film much, as Ballerina’s box office underwhelmed, finishing at $137 million worldwide.
2
F1: The Movie
Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt at the European premiere of ‘F1 The Movie’ at Cineworld, Leicester Square
Steve Vas/Future Image/Cover Images
In another attempt to back a major action blockbuster, Cruise was very supportive of F1: The Movie. Apple Studios gave the Formula 1 racing movie starring Brad Pitt a theatrical release in IMAX rather than put it straight to streaming, and they were rewarded with a $629 million box office hit.
Cruise took a different strategy here to show his support. He went to the European premiere of F1 and walked the red carpet, snagging pictures with Pitt, with whom he starred in Interview with the Vampire over 30 years ago. It’s a rare Hollywood function for a movie that is not his, but that’s because his connections to F1 run deep.
Not only did Cruise and Pitt star together in a movie in 1994 (and were attached to make an earlier version of Ford v Ferrari), but F1 is directed by Joseph Kosinski, whom Cruise worked with previously on Oblivion and, more notably, Top Gun: Maverick. He and Kosinski are poised to reunite on Top Gun 3, and he clearly wanted to show support for his latest film.
The movie is also produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, a longtime collaborator of Cruise’s. They worked together on the Top Gun films as well as Cruise’s racing movie Days of Thunder. The latter came out 35 years to the day before F1, which is why Cruise used the latter’s release as a chance to celebrate his prior film.
There’s even been some fun discussions about a potential F1 sequel crossing over with Days of Thunder. If that happens, then Cruise’s support of the original will really have paid off.
1
The Running Man
Richards looking intense in his red jumpsuit flanked by two guards in The Running Man
The latest 2025 movie that Tom Cruise has supported is The Running Man. The fresh adaptation of Stephen King’s novel, which was previously brought to the screen starring Arnold Schwarzenegger in 1987, gains Cruise’s support thanks to one man: Glen Powell.
They got to know each other through Top Gun: Maverick, where Powell auditioned for Rooster and impressed Cruise so much that he beefed up Hangman’s role to give Powell a substantial role after Rooster went to Miles Teller. It was during this movie that Powell learned a lot of lessons from Cruise about acting and being a movie star and started applying them to his own career.
With Top Gun: Maverick serving as a breakout role, Powell followed Cruise’s advice and quickly became an under-40 actor Hollywood viewed as a box office draw after hits in Anyone But You and Twisters. The latter also gained Cruise’s public support, and he called back to that moment when praising The Running Man.
This gives Powell the honor of being the only actor to have multiple movies endorsed by Cruise. The 63-year-old star even made sure to highlight how funny and thrilling The Running Man to give audiences a sense of what they can expect when it comes out on November 14.
With the year coming to a close, this very well could be the last 2025 movie that Tom Cruise supports in such a public way, unless he wants to advocate for a blockbuster like Avatar: Fire and Ash or Marty Supreme to back another rising star in Timothée Chalamet, who is a fan of the action star’s work.
Headshot Of Tom Cruise In The UK premiere of ‘Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning’ Part OneÂ
Birthname
THOMAS CRUISE MAPOTHER IV
Birthdate
July 3, 1962
Birthplace
Syracuse, New York, USA
Profession
Actor
Professions
Actor, Producer