People are hating on Tom Cruise today for his, they say, “shortsighted” stance on the current SAG strike.
It turns out that Cruise reportedly asked SAG-AFTRA to allow actors to continue promoting their new films. SAG wanted nothing to do with it and even countered by asking Cruise to join the picket lines. He refused.
SAG wanted Cruise to send a strong message to the studios. Cruise was noncommittal, but offered to assist in other ways. He refused to join the picket lines and that’s irked a lot of people.
Here’s Variety’s exact words on the matter:
The stakes are so high on summer films like “Dead Reckoning Part One,” “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” that Tom Cruise asked SAG-AFTRA to allow movie stars to continue promoting their new films, given the challenging theatrical landscape, sources say. The union countered by asking Cruise to join the picket lines, noting that having one of the world’s biggest movie stars visibly in its corner would send a strong message to the studios. Cruise was noncommittal, but offered to assist in other ways.
Obviously, Cruise is concerned with the dire state of this year’s summer movies, he wants the theatrical experience to survive and this strike is clearly worsening things. It’s a good thing that many of the big upcoming summer movies got a head start with marketing and booked interviews way before the strike happened.
As you may know, instead of granting waivers, SAG has banned all of its members from doing promotional press on studio films. This could also lead to less buzzy fall festivals in September.
Although Cruise’s “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One” hasn’t really lit up a flame at the domestic box-office, it’s doing quite well internationally. The film has so far made $240 million worldwide.