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The Tom Cruise vs ‘Oppenheimer’ Movie Theater Smackdown

Cruise has been forcefully pushing exhibitors to put ‘Mission: Impossible’ ahead of Chris Nolan’s film on large-format screens after he lost three weeks of IMAX exclusivity in the first truly competitive summer for blockbusters since Covid.

Mission 7, Tom Cruise’s nearly $300 million-budgeted baby, is getting bumped from IMAX screens.
Mission 7, Tom Cruise’s nearly $300 million-budgeted baby, is getting bumped from IMAX screens. Photo: Dan Istitene via Getty Images
Matthew Belloni
June 2, 2023

Tom Cruise is pretty pissed these days. The star-producer of Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning Part One has been complaining loudly to Paramount executives and others about the IMAX situation, per multiple sources familiar with the dialogue. Mission 7 has booked most of the IMAX screens for the week of the film’s July 12 opening, but then on July 21 comes Universal’s Oppenheimer, which has locked in all the IMAX screens in North America and other territories for three full weeks. Mission 7, Cruise’s nearly $300 million-budgeted baby, is getting bumped.