Tom Cruise's Meltdown Addressed by IMAX CEO (We're Surprised, Too)
As the Mission: Impossible actor is fuming that Oppenheimer will steal "his" IMAX screens, the IMAX CEO has something to say about it.
At this point, everyone and their family dog knows that Tom Cruise is going through a rough time with his upcoming Mission: Impossible 7 release.
After long and tedious work on the movie that's set to break Cruise's previous records, he learned that he'd be stepped over.
With the actor's Mission: Impossible 7 hitting the theaters on July 12, the movie won't have much theaters to keep hitting in just a week's notice.
On July 21, two massive competitors, Barbie and Oppenheimer, will be released, and Cruise will lose oh so many big screens to them.
Many cinemas will switch to the new movies instead, and it's obvious; but on top of that, Oppenheimer alone will take over every single IMAX screen in North America, leaving Mission: Impossible in the dust... And with the tiniest fraction of the screens Cruise was hoping for.
The actor is famously outraged about this whole situation, and reports claim that he even tried to convince his fellow rivals to postpone their releases... Predictably, neither of them agreed to shoot in their own legs for Tom Cruise's profits' sake.
It was only a matter of time until the IMAX executives heard about this situation, but we totally didn't expect them to give official comments. Rich Gelfond, the IMAX CEO himself, addressed the battle for his screens and Tom Cruise's meltdown because of it.
"I feel sad in a way we can’t accommodate all of them. I know Mission: Impossible is going to be a really big movie, [but] Nolan has a special place in IMAX's heart because he uses our cameras and promotes us. It’s not a matter of us saying which we can make more money on. I would hope after Oppenheimer’s run, we can bring back Mission," said Gelfond.
While the IMAX CEO didn't suggest splitting the screens between the movies (which would've been seen as betrayal by Christopher Nolan ), he made some sort of a peace offering. If Cruise and his team are down, M:I7 can return to IMAX screens after Oppenheimer's run.
It's safe to say that this is more of a nice gesture since Mission: Impossible 7 will already turn a month old by the time Oppenheimer is done, but it's... Something. Considering how dire things look for Tom Cruise's upcoming movie, this is a chance worth taking.
Source: Variety