“The kind we need now”: the $200m flop Tom Cruise called “everything you want in a movie”
It’s no secret that Tom Cruise loves movies, and Tom Cruise loves movies a lot more than you do. In fact, Tom Cruise probably loves movies more than anyone on the face of the planet, because all he ever seems to do is talk about movies.
Obviously, he’s an actor, and that’s his job, but it’s gotten a little weird. He’ll rarely avoid the opportunity to show himself proudly standing outside a cinema holding his ticket for a high-profile release, and he wouldn’t be caught dead without his trusted bucket of popcorn. Or two, since he’s copped to devouring a pair of them whenever he sits down to catch a film, which is also very strange.
He’s probably the most knowledgeable star in the industry, in terms of the inner machinations of how the cinematic sausage is made, who hasn’t directed a picture of their own. Presumably, he’s got all of the skills, but for whatever reason, an episode of the anthology series Fallen Angels is the only time he’s felt the need to live life on the other side.
For the most part, if Cruise recommends a picture, he’s not going to be touting a flop. Some of his recent outings to the multiplex have seen him heartily endorse Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, and Joseph Kosinski’s F1, all of which are enjoyable big-screen entertainment at the very least.
He’s probably seen a lot of crap movies, too, but he usually keeps that information to himself. That said, Warner Bros was thrilled that it could use an endorsement from one of Hollywood’s biggest names to try and give an extra boost to It director Andy Muschietti’s troubled comic book adaptation, The Flash.
The superhero flick was originally announced in 2014, and cycled through several directors and multiple screenwriters before getting in front of the cameras seven years later. When it did, it was hit by multiple pandemic-related delays, and then Ezra Miller, who played the lead role, was caught up in a string of scandals and controversies.
WB boss, David Zaslav, sent a copy over to the Mission: Impossible maniac when he voiced his interest in seeing it, and according to The Hollywood Reporter, he was blown away, calling it “everything you want in a movie” and “the kind of movie we need right now,” which begs the question: did he see the same film as everyone else?
The Flash, which was also heartily endorsed by Stephen King, of all people, was rubbish. It was a garish, ugly, CGI-fuelled eyesore, and not even the nostalgic key-jangling of having Michael Keaton return as Batman for the first time in three decades was enough to elevate it above its level of soggy celluloid mush.
James Gunn also called it “probably one of the greatest superhero movies ever made,” but that would always be taken with a pinch of salt, considering he’d recently been appointed co-CEO of the studio that made it. However, Tom Cruise? He should know better, misleading people into thinking it wasn’t shite. In the end, audiences voted with their wallets, and the $200 million production tanked at the box office.
