Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 marks another mouth-watering payday for Tom Cruise, but does it beat Top Gun: Maverick’s 10-figure salary?
Tom Cruise has notoriously huge paydays, and Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 continues his long-running salary demands, but it might not be his highest. The Mission: Impossible franchise has grossed over $3.8 billion (via The Numbers), and that number is only going to get much bigger with the release of Mission: Impossible 7. The action spy series has become one of the most successful franchises primarily thanks to Cruise’s commitment to playing Ethan Hunt and his even bigger commitment to death-defying stunts. Cruise is willing to literally risk his life for the audience’s entertainment.
Because Cruise is so tied to the Mission: Impossible franchise’s success, the actor has the upper hand regarding salary negotiations. While Mission: Impossible – Death Reckoning Part 1 is part of an established franchise, it still wouldn’t be half as successful with Cruise in the lead role. The actor has had a long history of huge paydays, and he’s one of the highest-paid actors of all time thanks to his bankability. Not only that, but as Cruise often earns back-end points, his total sum per movie is much higher than simply his basic salary, and that’s likely no different with Mission: Impossible 7’s box office success.
Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible 7 Salary Is Reportedly $12M-14M
Tom Cruise is one of the most bankable actors working today, and he has had a guaranteed audience for four decades now. One of the main factors that dictate an actor’s salary is how big of an audience they’ll bring in, and with Tom Cruise, that audience is huge. Tom Cruise was paid between $12-14 million for Mission: Impossible 7 (via Variety). One studio executive noted, “I would never bet against Tom Cruise. Most actors aren’t worth what you pay them, but Cruise and maybe Dwayne Johnson justify their salaries.” However, while $12-14 million is undoubtedly a huge figure, that’s almost peanuts compared to what Cruise is used to.
How Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible 7 Pay Compares To His Other Movies
As movie stars are often getting paid $20 million and even $25 million, Cruise’s salary for Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 seems a little on the low side, especially given the outrageous stunts he performs in the movie. Cruise consistently earns tens of millions of dollars for each movie role, with some of his biggest paydays being the Mission: Impossible movies, making between $70-100 million per movie, which is largely thanks to producer credits. The actor also reportedly earned $100 million for starring in The War of the Worlds. Even for Vanilla Sky, which received a mixed reception, the actor made $68 million.
Cruise’s base salary for Top Gun: Maverick was $13 million, but the actor negotiated a huge bonus, getting 10 percent of the movie’s gross profit, which led to a payday of over $100 million. Given that Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 is a similar salary, it’s likely that Cruise has negotiated a percentage of the 2023 movie’s gross profit too. That would especially make sense, given that Tom Cruise is a producer on Mission: Impossible 7. However, Cruise’s ultimate earnings will still be way less than what he earned for Top Gun: Maverick, as Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 won’t beat Top Gun 2’s $1.5 billion box office gross.