Mr. Cruise, Musk and NASA Attempting to Shoot First Feature Length Movie Out of this World!

By: Keaton Marcus

With this story, we wonder if superstar Tom Cruise is really in his right mind. Supposedly Mr. Cruise is teaming up with Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocket and filming the first narrative movie in space. This isn’t just Cruise hanging from helicopters, scaling skyscrapers or flying jets, this is producing a movie that will be made out of this world, literally. Deadline reports that “it’s not a Mission: Impossible movie and no studio is involved yet. But this is a real thing in the early stages of development. With the COVID-19 crisis still going strong, we can’t even predict when they will begin to film this project, but for now it sounds like a dream that will not be completed for a long time.

Cruise, at 57 years old, does a whole lot of movies for his age whether it's a The Mummy reboot, a Mission: Impossible sequel (they just keep coming) and several sci-fi films. He’s been excellent with science fiction projects in his career, starring in modern classic Minority Report, the stunning Edge of Tomorrow and the complex, high-concept Oblivion. He’s pretty darn bankable as well, though his films don’t make that much money. He’s not The Rock, people. He’s never done a project that even takes place in space, much less filmed in space. Well, admittedly, no one has ever done that with a narrative picture in film history. People shoot docs there all the time as they are released left and right, though to actually make a story out there is definitely a hell of a job.

His upcoming projects include the anticipated sequel to the popular ‘80s action movie Top Gun, dubbed Maverick, which was supposed to come out June, though was pushed back due to the Coronavirus. That’s not his only film to be delayed. His seventh and eighth Mission movies have both been pushed as well. The seventh should have concluded filming in Italy by now. Recently, the sixth installment of the franchise was released (2018), called Mission: Impossible - Fallout, which is “Certified Fresh” at 97% on Rotten Tomatoes, earned over 791 million dollars globally at the box office, becoming Cruise’s biggest movie ever. My point is audiences still want to watch him do some insane stunts on some epic set-pieces.

He’s also got some more hits. His Steven Spielberg-directed War of the Worlds film topped 603 million at the box office, and both the fourth and fifth Mission movies earned almost 700 million dollars each! He’s not without his disappointments, however, with his 2017 Mummy movie considered a bomb even after grossing over 400 million because of its bloated budget of nearly 200 million dollars. Oblivion, released in 2013, didn’t exactly do well either. It only earned 286.1 million on a budget capping 120 million, not quite breaking even. Edge of Tomorrow, despite receiving critical acclaim, also bombed, grossing 370.5 million on a cost of 178 million. Cruise is a bit of a mixed bag in the box office, and with critics if you think about it, it depends on the movie. If it’s a Mission film, it’s almost guaranteed to be a hit, but if it’s a true standalone or an attempt to start a franchise, it’s a real gamble.

One other notable thing to mention is explaining how he’ll actually get up there for production. Well, with the help of tech mogul Elon Musk and his rocket dubbed SpaceX, Cruise will fly right on up there. Deadline also confirmed the movie would be in the genre of action adventure, but seriously, how does the crew plan to do Cruise’s usual special effects overload out of this world? Of course, Musk and Cruise will also be aided by NASA. Jim Bridenstine, the Administrator of the National Space Aeronautics Administration tweeted that “NASA is excited to work with Tom Cruise on a film aboard the space station! We need popular media to inspire a new generation of engineers and scientists to make NASA’s ambitious plans a reality.”

If this fantasy actually did happen, even without Cruise, it would change film forever. Shooting a narrative film in space is a terribly difficult task, especially if it’s an action adventure picture. Think about actually shooting a Star Wars film out of this world, sure this project won’t be on the same scale, but it’ll be packed with VFX, and they’ll spend some good cash on it. We don’t know much about it yet, with the studio (maybe it’ll be Paramount), the plot or even when it’ll happen. What we do know, for certain, is that Mr. Cruise is well up to the task! Fun fact: The United States Navy actually helped making both 1986’s Top Gun and the upcoming Maverick. So why can’t NASA aid this one!