Tom Cruise Peaked At The Box Office 16 Years Before Top Gun: Maverick

Published Sep 25, 2026, 4:45 PM EDT Cooper Hood is the Associate Editor for all new movie releases, in theaters and on streaming. In addition to writing articles about these titles and upcoming releases, he also oversees content planning for each, ensuring that ScreenRant continues to cover major releases for months after their release. He has written various reviews for ScreenRant that appear on Rotten Tomatoes, coordinated Oscars and San Diego Comic-Con coverage, appeared on CNN to talk about Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, and done select interviews with talent over the years. Tom Cruise had the biggest box office hit of his career with Top Gun: Maverick in 2022. After waiting 36 years to return as Maverick (and holding strong through the pandemic to ensure a theatrical release), Top Gun's sequel became the movie event of the summer. It grossed $1.5 billion, making it Cruise's highest-grossing movie by a long shot. That's why Top Gun: Maverick's record-breaking run is often considered to be Cruise's crowning achievement at the box office. No other movie he's made has even made over $900 million worldwide (not adjusted for inflation). Maverick gave Cruise his biggest opening weekend at $126.7 million, which rose to a then-Memorial Day weekend record of $160.5 million. It's fair to think of Top Gun: Maverick as the time Cruise peaked as a bankable, A-list star. The movie solidified his rare standing in Hollywood and within the minds of viewers, as audiences have become transfixed with seeing the star put himself in danger for their enjoyment. But the reality is that Cruise was a bigger, more reliable star 16 years before. That's because Cruise had an incredible seven-movie streak where they all opened at #1. The streak ran from 2000 to 2006, starting with Mission: Impossible II and running through Mission: Impossible III. To make the run even more impressive, Mission: Impossible II topped the global box office, which is still the only time one of Cruise's movies has done so. Tom Cruise's Consecutive #1 Openings Streak Was A True Sign Of His Starpower The movies responsible for Cruise's #1 opening streak are Mission: Impossible II, Vanilla Sky, Minority Report, The Last Samurai, Collateral, War of the Worlds, and Mission: Impossible III. There is no mistake that Cruise was the draw for audiences, with the movies having an opening weekend on average of $40 million, or $75 million adjusted for inflation. Tom Cruise Movie Dom. Opening Dom. Opening (Adjusted For Inflation) Mission: Impossible II $57.8 million $121.3 million Vanilla Sky $25 million $50 million Minority Report $35.6 million $69.5 million The Last Samurai $24.2 million $45.5 million Collateral $24.7 million $44.9 million War of the Worlds $64.8 million $114.4 million Mission: Impossible III $47.7 million $82.4 million Most impressively, he remained relevant as the films had several differences. All but Vanilla Sky have some sort of action component, making them right in Cruise's wheelhouse. But the genre of action movies differs. There are spy adventures, sci-fi thrillers, period war movies, and crime films. Some had summer releases, while others came in the winter. Most were PG-13 and aimed at a large audience, but a few were rated R and meant just for adults. And as mentioned, there were familiar franchises, but also completely original tales. No matter what Cruise was doing during this time, audiences couldn't get enough. Cruise's consecutive #1 openings streak was nearly a lot longer. He had a six-movie run of winning the weekend from 1992 to 1999 between A Few Good Men and Eyes Wide Shut, but Magnolia broke the streak. If not for the Paul Thomas Anderson movie role that got Cruise an Oscar nomination, he'd have 13 consecutive #1 openers across 14 years. Tom Cruise Hasn't Come Close To Beating His #1 Opening Streak Since While Top Gun: Maverick proves Cruise remains a box office draw today, he's never really come close to replicating the aforementioned run. He's had several movies open at #1 on a weekend from 2007 to now, but the longest streak he's ever put together is just three: Mission: Impossible — Fallout, Top Gun: Maverick, and Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning. Due to the pandemic and delays, that streak took him six years to put together. Unfortunately for Cruise, he is now in a position of trying to start a new streak. Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning opened in second last year, and now Digger is unlikely to win its opening weekend. The actor has no shortage of projects in development in the hopes of stringing together several hits, with Days of Thunder 2 and Top Gun 3 on the docket. But it will be quite challenging (dare I say impossible?) for Tom Cruise to hit a new apex and beat his 2000 to 2006 run. Birthdate July 3, 1962 Birthplace SYRACUSE, NEW YORK, USA Occupation(s) Actor, Producer Notable Projects Top Gun, Mission Impossible First On-Screen Role Endless Love (1981) Birthname THOMAS CRUISE MAPOTHER IV