“This story is a culmination of the last 30 years,” Cruise told a packed crowd. “It’s been about seven years since we started talking about Dead Reckoning – Part One, and McQ wanted to make two of them. I was like, ‘You want to make two?’”
“McQ” is Cruise’s nickname for director Christopher McQuarrie, who helmed both 2023’s Dead Reckoning and its sequel—originally titled Dead Reckoning – Part Two before being renamed The Final Reckoning. The sequel continues Ethan Hunt’s race against a rogue AI known as the Entity.
A Long Road to the Finish Line
“During that time we made Top Gun: Maverick and went through a pandemic and two strikes,” Cruise continued. “All of us came together to will this into being. It’s a great honor and privilege to be here and entertain you.”
McQuarrie, who also directed Rogue Nation and Fallout, praised his longtime collaborator. “We’re all here because of Tom. You know him for great acting. You know him for amazing stunts. You’re going to watch a film in which he dunks on all of that repeatedly.”
Before the screening, Cruise made sure the audience was ready for the nearly three-hour runtime. “Everyone got their popcorn?” he asked. When no one answered, he pressed again. This time the crowd responded with a resounding “yes!” “I’m going to go get mine,” he joked. “I eat usually two or three buckets [during the movie].”
Stars and Guests Pack the Pre-Party
Before the screening, Cruise’s co-stars including Simon Pegg, Angela Bassett, Nick Offerman, and Tramell Tillman mingled with guests like The Weeknd, Jenni “JWoww” Farley of Jersey Shore, and Summer House stars Jesse Solomon and Carl Radke at a pre-party in Lincoln Center.
The Final Reckoning debuted earlier at the Cannes Film Festival to a five-minute standing ovation. Though ovations aren’t customary at U.S. premieres, the New York audience rose to their feet at the credits, cheering loudly for Cruise and the cast.
Stunts at the Edge of Possibility
As part of his press campaign, Cruise has teased “never been done before” stunts. This is no small claim given his resume, which includes scaling the Burj Khalifa, hanging off a flying airplane, performing a corkscrew helicopter dive, and skydiving over 500 times for past Mission: Impossible entries.
“What I want to do is really, really extreme,” he told Cannes audiences. One new stunt involved going “zero-G” while walking between the wings of a moving biplane. “I had to train [pilots] to fly the airplane with me on the wing. It was so violent on that airplane; the amount of air force that’s coming over the wing…”
A Franchise on the Line
With The Final Reckoning reportedly positioned as the last entry in the 29-year-old franchise, Cruise now turns to the global audience to deliver at the box office. The film’s predecessor, Dead Reckoning, underperformed amid the “Barbenheimer” craze, earning $570 million worldwide against a $300 million budget.
The Final Reckoning is said to be even more expensive, meaning it will need to outperform all previous entries to break even. The current franchise high is held by 2018’s Fallout with $791 million globally.
Related topics:
- Politics, Protests, and a Tarantino Surprise: Cannes Film Festival Kicks Off
- Cannes Freelance Workers Protest Conditions at Festival Opening
- Robert De Niro Calls Trump a ‘Philistine President’ at Cannes, Urges Global Defense of the Arts
