Describing the Mission: Impossible franchise as popular would be an insult. The movies are over the top phenomenal, and with Tom Cruise as the face, it just gets better and better. People barely remember that the main character’s name is Ethan Hunt.

Tom Cruise at the peak of his popularity in the 2000s

Tom Cruise’s Star Power

The Mission: Impossible Franchise is Tom Cruise, and he has made a mega-fortune from it. One would think that his days of earning from the films are over, but no. Tom Cruise still gets big bucks from the films, which is enough evidence of his actual star power.

Today, blockbuster films have become less about star power and more about superheroes. Well, and some supervillains too, we wouldn’t forget the Joker. To be honest, when people obsess about the Avengers: Endgame, it has nothing to do with the stars, but the fact that it is among the remarkable Marvel universe.

Today, epic films that are grounded on brands such as Marvel have come to replace the ones revolving around a famous star. Case in point, when we see Robert Downey Jr. in an Avengers film, the first thing in mind is “Here comes Iron Man!!!” rather than “Wow, there’s Robert Downey”.

On the other hand, when you think of Mission: Impossible, you think Tom Cruise. Ethan Hunt can only be played by Tom Cruise. He is truly irreplaceable! Unlike the Batman and Spiderman characters that have been portrayed by several different actors.

When you think Mission: Impossible, you think Tom Cruise

Tom Cruise’s Millions

Since 1996, the MI franchise has made close to $3 billion. Nothing less can be expected, seeing as Tom Cruise has done an exceptionally good job in the portrayal of his character. He has literally put his own life at stake while performing real-life stunts, even at the age of 57.

When making a film, he is paid beforehand, and a share of the box office profits after its release. Cruise made $70 million from the first 1996 MI film, which when adjusted for inflation is roughly $114 million today. Considering that the movie’s entire budget was $80 million, he made an insanely large amount of money.

Tom Cruise then made $75 million dollars each for the 2000 and 2006 films as an upfront fee. He then got 30% of the box office profits. Cruise then made $70 million in the 2011 MI Ghost Protocol and $25 million as the upfront fee for the 2015 MI Rogue Nation as well as back-end profits. We all know the MI franchise did not stop there.

Tom Cruise has made big bucks from the Mission: Impossible films

In 2018, he got $28 million for MI Fallout, which made the biggest opening compared to all the other five movies. The film made $61 million in its opening and $220 million in total.

The exceptional star has made over $285 million for his role in the MI franchise, which when adjusted for inflation amounts to $389 million. Bear in mind that these are the millions he made excluding his back-end profits from the films in 2011, 2015, and 2018.

Tom Cruise is not yet done making millions from the franchise either. Mission: Impossible 7 and 8 are scheduled to be released in July 2021 and August 2022 respectively, and we can bet that he is going to make even more millions at the age of 60.