Ground control to Major Tom — Tom Cruise, that is.
It’s official: Cruise will literally be going to space in 2021 to film a new movie. Because this is Tom Cruise we’re talking about here.
The news, which was first announced in May, was confirmed last week by a tweet from Space Shuttle Almanac. The project is being done with the cooperation of NASA, Axiom Commercial Space Station and American aerospace manufacturer SpaceX.
NME confirmed this week that Cruise’s space mission will commence in October 2021. He will be accompanied by director Doug Liman, who previously worked with Cruise on the films “Edge of Tomorrow” and “American Made.” Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria will pilot the tourist mission.
Still no word on what the Cruise film is titled. But People magazine reported that it’s going to be an action-adventure movie not tied to the “Mission: Impossible” franchise. According to NME, Liman is currently writing the script, and Christopher McQuarrie, who has written and directed some of the “Mission: Impossible” films, will be a story adviser and producer. The film’s budget is reportedly $200 million, according to Deadline, and will be distributed by Universal Pictures.
That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for cinema-kind.