Tom Cruise in Numbers

Tom Cruise has had an illustrious career so far spanning more than three decades. He started off as a young heartthrob that girls swooned over, with the uniformed role in Top Gun propelling his career further, and made a smooth transition into action movies through Mission: Impossible while enjoying success in sci-fi films like Minority Report as well. But three decades is a long time, and with the relatively poor collections seen for Jack Reacher, the question popped in my head -- has Tom Cruise lost his sheen? A look at the US box office collections of his last few movies should give us an idea. 

Rock of Ages (2012): $31 million (did anyone notice this movie?)

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011): $209 million (MI still sells, and Cruise still makes a good Ethan Hunt)

Knight and Day (2010): $76 million (another dud; Cruise reportedly rejected Salt for this, and the former went on to earn more than $100 million with Angelina Jolie as the lead)

Valkyrie (2008): $83 million (a good movie, though collections still lower than expected)

Tropic Thunder (2008): $110 million (Cruise played a cameo here, which is without a doubt one of his most memorable roles in recent times)  

Lions for Lambs (2007): $15 million (??)

Mission: Impossible III (2006): $133 million (a low gross for an MI movie, though the latest one has done much better)

The War of the Worlds (2005): $234 million (Spielberg directed this sci-fi movie)

While the jury may still be out, I find it unlikely that Tom Cruise can churn out hits on his own star-power any more. I still look forward to movies from Mission: Impossible series. But for any movie with Cruise's name on it, I'll need something more than that to deem it worth a watch. 

PS: 2013's Oblivion starring Tom Cruise is a sci-fi movie, starring Morgan Freeman too. Irrespective of what I said above, the initial trailer of Oblivion still makes Cruise look good. Maybe sci-fi is where Cruise will fit in best! Here's a poster of Cruise's latest offering to be released in April 2013.