For the past couple of decades, Tom Cruise has primarily worked on some of the best action movies in recent memory, with the ever-popular Mission: Impossible franchise and uber-successful Top Gun: Maverick being some of the biggest achievements. However, it sounds like the actor-turned-stuntman will soon go back to his more dramatic, or at least, less action-oriented days when he leads Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s latest project.
Though we don’t have an official title for the teaming of the five-time Academy Award-winning filmmaker and one of the biggest Hollywood stars of all time (it’s reportedly being temporarily titled Judy, per Deadline), we do have a release date, one of the most impressive cast lists in quite some time, and other details about what could be one of the most interesting releases on the 2026 movie schedule.
What Is The New Tom Cruise Movie Release Date?
Though the Mission: Impossible franchise is over after Final Reckoning, it won’t be the last we see of Tom Cruise, as his movie with Alejandro G. Iñárritu is set to hit theaters on October 2, 2026. There’s not a lot on the calendar for that point in late 2026, but there is another high-profile untitled project as Jordan Peele’s follow-up to Nope is slated to open a little over a week before Halloween.
We still have a year and some change before this movie comes out, and if the past few years have taught us anything, it’s that we should be open to all and any changes to the release calendar.
Who'll Be Joining Tom Cruise In Alejandro G. Iñárritu's New Movie?
As Cruise has shown time and time again, he is more than capable of carrying a movie on his own. However, he won’t have to do all the heavy-lifting here, as Iñárritu has put together an absolutely incredible group of actors that includes Oscar winners, Emmy winners, and even a member of the Saturday Night Live Five-Timers Club. Here’s everyone who’s been announced so far, as reported by Deadline:
- Sandra Hüller - The Zone of Interest, Anatomy of a Fall
- John Goodman - The Conners, The Big Lebowski
- Michael Stuhlbarg - A Serious Man, Call Me By Your Name
- Jesse Plemons - Civil War, Kinds of Kindness
- Sophie Wilde - Talk to Me, Babygirl
- Riz Ahmed - Sound of Metal, The Night Of
- Emma D'Arcy - House of the Dragon, Truth Seekers
- Robert John Burke - The Last of Us, Tombstone
- Burn Gorman - The Dark Knight Rises, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
What Is The Movie About?
Though a lot of the specifics about the movie are being kept under wraps at the moment, Deadline did share a simple synopsis back in August 2024. According to that report, the movie will center on the most powerful man in the world as he embarks on a frantic mission to prove he is humanity’s savior. What makes this whole concept even more interesting is the fact that the humanity-killing disaster he is trying to prevent is one of his own making.
We’ve seen Cruise save the world countless times over the years, be it from aliens, rogue nations, mummies, and diabolical madmen, but this sounds far more extreme, and dramatic, than anything that's come before.
Iñárritu Has Described The Movie As A 'Brutal, Wild Comedy of Catastrophic Proportions'
Though Iñárritu and Cruise have both created some undeniably (and sometimes uncomfortable) comedic moments throughout their respective careers, neither is really known for comedy. But, the world will get to see that when their mysterious movie comes out in October 2026. During a 25th anniversary celebration of Iñárritu’s 2000 drama, Amores Perros at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival (via The Hollywood Reporter), the man behind Birdman and The Revenant had this to say when teasing the project:
All I can say is it is a brutal, wild comedy of catastrophic proportions. It’s insane. It’s scary and funny and beautiful. I know comedy is not what people expect from me, or Tom, and making this film was terrifying for me. But I don’t like to repeat myself, and every film should scare you a little. I felt Birdman was a comedy, a dark comedy, and this one was challenging like that. And Tom makes me laugh every single day. He has this total commitment, this total madness.
During the same event, Deadline asked Iñárritu about working with Cruise for the project how that experience went. In his answer, the director offered some more details about the movie:
He gives himself. He has an incredible sense of passion. It’s a brutal comedy. It’s a wild comedy of human nature. It’s scary and funny. It’s beautiful. I will start editing next week.
Though we probably won’t be getting a Les Grossman-type of performance out of Cruise here (a Tropic Thunder spinoff might be happening), it will be so interesting to see how he does in a role where he’s not really running the whole time.
The New Tom Cruise Movie Wrapped Production In May 2025
We could be one step closer to seeing footage from Cruise’s new movie, which may or may not be called Judy, sooner rather than later, as production has reportedly wrapped. In May 2025, World of Reel reported that a nearly seven-month shoot had finally wrapped in London’s Pinewood Studios. According to the report from a member of the crew, it was the only location where Iñárritu’s first comedy in more than a decade was shot, making it seem like this could be a massive sci-fi comedy disaster film of epic proportions.
This information seems all the more reliable after hearing Iñárritu’s comments from the Amores Perros celebration mentioned above, as the director said he would start editing the following week in the aforementioned Deadline interview. How long the post-production phase of the project is will be anyone’s guess.
Expect to hear a whole lot more about Tom Cruise’s upcoming movie, and hopefully, this is a sign of things to come for the Hollywood leading man.
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