Tom Cruise received a hero’s welcome at the Cannes Film Festival 2025 for the premiere of Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning on Wednesday, May 14. This marks Cruise's third appearance at Cannes, following Far and Away in 1992 and Top Gun: Maverick in 2022. The festival honored him with an honorary Palme d'Or in 2022.
The premiere of Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning was one of the most anticipated events of the festival. Fans have been eagerly awaiting this eighth installment in the Mission: Impossible franchise, especially with hints that it could be the last. Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie have been playfully adding to the suspense by sharing contradictory clues about the film's future.
Cruise, known for his dedication to performing his own stunts, has been actively promoting the film by showcasing some of his most daring feats on social media. This includes footage of a freefall jump from a helicopter at 10,000 feet over a South African mountain range.
The Mission: Impossible cast, including Angela Bassett, Hannah Waddingham, Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg, Pom Klementieff, Esai Morales, Greg Tarzan Davis, and Tramell Tillman, joined Cruise on the red carpet. Director Christopher McQuarrie also attended the premiere. The cast was seen taking selfies and interacting with fans.
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning sees Ethan Hunt, played by Tom Cruise, confronting a formidable new enemy: an AI entity. The film is a sequel to Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, which was released in 2023. The movie's title and trailer, filled with flashbacks from previous installments, suggest that this could be Hunt's final mission.
Christopher McQuarrie, who has collaborated with Cruise on the last four Mission: Impossible films, participated in a "Rendez-vous with…" session at the festival. This gave attendees an opportunity to learn about McQuarrie's career and his approach to crafting thrillers and action cinema.
The Cannes Film Festival premiered Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning "Out of Competition". The film is set to be released in Europe and the Middle East on May 21, with the US release following a few days later. The movie has a runtime of 2 hours and 49 minutes and will be shown in IMAX, Dolby Cinema, ScreenX, and other premium large formats.
Tom Cruise's promotional tour for the film has included stops in Japan, Korea, and London. In London, he scaled the BFI Imax theater and jumped out of a helicopter with a camera attached to his chest.