Tom Cruise’s Summer 2022 Is What Keanu Reeves’ 2021 Was Supposed To Be

2022 will be the summer of Tom Cruise with Top Gun: Maverick and Mission: Impossible 7, and he’s getting the spotlight Keanu Reeves was poised to have in 2021. Cruise and Reeves are two of the biggest action movie stars in Hollywood and have retained that designation for decades. They both currently headline multiple successful franchises, whether that comes by creating new ones or continuing franchises started years ago.

Tom Cruise and Keanu Reeves have both seen their popularity soar again in recent years thanks to their action movies. Reeves’ resurgence is particularly noticeable as it was less expected. John Wick brought him back in a major way and launched a new action franchise for him. The popularity of the series and Reeves as an actor put 2021 in a position to give moviegoers a double-dose of Keanu to the highest degree. John Wick: Chapter 4 and The Matrix: Resurrections were both scheduled to come out in May 2021 and on the same day no less. The coronavirus pandemic forced Lionsgate and Warner Bros. to delay their respective Reeves-led sequels.

After 2021 failed to give audiences two Keanu Reeves movie sequels on the same day, Tom Cruise is now in a similar position to be at the forefront of the movie business the entire summer of 2022. Following plenty of delays, 2022’s summer now has Top Gun: Maverick and Mission: Impossible 7 set to release. Top Gun 2 was originally set for a December 2020 release date, while Mission: Impossible 7 was supposed to be a summer 2021 film. Both films have been delayed multiple times due to COVID-19, but now Tom Cruise will be the star of two major blockbusters within just a few months of each other.

Based on the current release dates for each star’s upcoming movies, 2022 will also pit Tom Cruise and Keanu Reeves directly against each other. Top Gun: Maverick and John Wick: Chapter 4 are both scheduled to hit theaters exclusively on May 27, 2022. It won’t be surprising if Lionsgate decides to move John Wick 4 off this date to avoid trying to challenge Top Gun 2. Even if that is the case, Keanu Reeves could at least momentarily break up a summer dominated by Tom Cruise. But as long as Top Gun 2 and Mission: Impossible 7 deliver on their respective high expectations, few will truly be able to compete with the attention Cruise will receive.

The true success of Tom Cruise’s 2022 summer will come down to how well Top Gun: Maverick and Mission: Impossible 7 perform at the box office. Both films’ repeated delays have been done to try and ensure that they can generate substantial revenue from theaters. The original Top Gun made almost $375 million worldwide, and the sequel is expected to earn much more than that. Meanwhile, Mission: Impossible – Fallout became the highest-grossing entry in the franchise after nearly cracking $800M, so Mission: Impossible 7 has a high bar to meet. Tom Cruise will need the theatrical business to continue rebounding to pre-pandemic levels if his 2022 summer is going to be as big as possible.