Tom Cruise Made Sure 'Top Gun 2' Debuted on the Big Screen

Top Gun: Maverick demands to be seen in the theater. I wanted to say that up top, because I think it's something we all agree on. This is a Tom Cruise action movie with fighter jets and IMAX sequences, so it seems like a no-brainer. But that's not the case in Hollywood right now. There are lots of titles doing day-and-date to drive people to subscribe to an app or to hedge bets against us going back to the theater. 

Yet, this is a Tom Cruise movie. So even if that idea crossed executives' minds, you know he wasn't going to stand for it. 

Tom Cruise is currently in Cannes for the premiere of Top Gun: Maverick. When asked about if they almost put this movie on an app for a streaming premiere, Cruise has a pretty blunt answer: “That’s not going to happen. Ever.”

He doubled down on it, saying, “I make movies for the big screen."

Cruise is really the last of the real movie stars. He's making crowd-pleasing movies for a huge audience. And I think it's admirable to stand in front of audiences and urge them to get back to the movies to see the stuff people work so hard on and that are made to entertain you. 

Like it or not, the industry is changing right before our eyes. Those of us trying to break in now are facing landscapes no one has ever seen before. If your dream was to see your work on the big screen, that's shifting to just seeing your stuff where people can stream it.

We need more people like Cruise standing up for theaters. And we need more studios that back people like this and their visions. 

Time will tell. Let us know your thoughts.