As one of the world’s highest-paid actors, it should probably come as no surprise that Tom Cruise’s net worth is astronomical. But how astronomical are we talking? And how much does his salary from blockbusters like Top Gun and the Mission: Impossible franchise factor into his net worth? Let’s get into these details below.
By way of a little background, Cruise obviously wasn’t always on Forbes’ Highest-Paid Actors list. The Mission: Impossible hero got his start in Hollywood in the 1980s, landing small roles in films like 1981’s Endless Love and 1983’s The Outsiders. Before long though, the actor started booking lead roles in a smattering of box-office hits—eventually leading him to the famous role of superspy Ethan Hunt in 1996’s reboot of Mission: Impossible. The rest is history! But if you’re interested in finding out extra details about just how much he makes on the Mission: Impossible films, along with what Tom Cruise‘s net worth in 2022 is now, just keep on reading.
How much does Tom Cruise make from the Mission: Impossible movies? Cruise stars as Ethan Hunt, an agent of the Impossible Missions Force, in eight Mission: Impossible films: 1996’s Mission: Impossible; 2000’s Mission: Impossible 2; 2006’s Mission: Impossible III; 2011’s Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol; 2015’s Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation; 2018’s Mission: Impossible – Fallout; 2023’s Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One; and 2024’s Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two. As the franchise’s leading man, it makes sense that Cruise is making a hefty salary for each of his Mission: Impossible films. According to CelebrityNetWorth, Cruise makes most of his money from the franchise from box office cuts, though he’s also paid a huge upfront flat fee.
In 1996’s first film of the franchise, Cruise made a total of $70 million. By the release of 2000 and 2006’s second and third films, Cruise was making a total of $75 million each (which is apparently made up of 30 percent of the gross box office earnings as per Cruise’s back-end deal). For Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol in 2011, Cruise made an additional $70 million, $12 million of which was his upfront salary.
Back-end details aren’t available for 2015’s Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation, the fifth film in the series, but we do know the film still saw him earning an upfront salary bump up to $25 million. The same can be said for the Mission: Impossible series’ latest film, Dead Reckoning —Part One. For that film, Cruise is estimated to have earned $14 million upfront. The Sun reported that Cruised asked for $12-$14 upfront for the seventh part. Furthermore, the report also stated that Cruise’s salary includes a percentage of the box office profits, and with the actor coming on board as a co-producer, he will take home credits for that too. According to Variety, the film is aiming to have at least $60 million for opening weekend.
Add this all together (and, keep in mind, we don’t know all of his back-end earnings), Cruise has made at least $285 million from the Mission: Impossible films alone. Oof!
How much did Tom Cruise make for Risky Business? Cruise starred as Joel Goodsen in 1983’s Risky Business. The movie, which is considered Cruise’s breakout film, was a critical and commercial success, grossing more than $63.5 million in the United States against a production budget of $6.2 million. The film grossed $4,275,327 in 670 theaters in its opening weekend alone. So how much did Tom Cruise make for Risky Business? According to Celebrity Net Worth, Cruise made just $75,000 for Risky Business, which makes sense given that the film was only his fifth movie after Endless Love, Taps, The Outsiders and Losin’ It.
How much did Tom Cruise make for Top Gun? Cruise starred as LT Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, a U.S. Navy pilot, in 1986’s Top Gun. The movie received mixed reviews from critics, but was a commercial success, grossing $356 million in the United States against a production budget of $15 million. The movie also won both the Academy Award and the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song for Berlin’s “Take My Breath Away” in 1987. The film was such a success that it was re-released in IMAX 3D theaters in 2013, 27 years after its premiere. A sequel to Top Gun titled Top Gun: Maverick premiered in 2022. The movie saw the return of Cruise—now as Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, a test pilot and flight instructor—as well as Val Kilmer, who reprised his role as Admiral Tom “Iceman” Kazansky.
In an interview with Roger Ebert in 1986, Cruise explained how his Top Gun character changed his career. “It was the first time I’d played a character who was larger than life, and it was the first movie where I’d been involved from the early planning stages. Also, I was playing a slightly older character for a change – somebody about my age,” he said. So how much did Tom Cruise make for Top Gun? While Cruise made $100 million off of Top Gun: Maverick, Celebrity Net Worth reports that Cruise made $2 million from Top Gun, which was the start of his blockbuster movie career.
“Before it opened, the studio wanted to do a sequel,” Cruise told The Project in 2022 about the sequel to Top Gun. “Paramount was after me for about a year to make the film before I committed to it. And I just wasn’t ready to do it. As a young actor and I’m developing and I was educating myself in cinema and stories, something that I watched in movies my whole life. As time went on, every year I would release a movie, people would be like ‘What about Top Gun? Make another Top Gun.’” He continued, “There were things that I wanted to accomplish with the first one. I wanted it to be more immersive for an audience. Part of my deal and when I signed on to make the movie is I have to fly in an F-14 and you gotta film me in an F-14.”
What is Tom Cruise’s net worth? According to Celebrity Net Worth, Tom Cruise’s net worth in 2023 is $600 million, with earnings of around $50 million each year. Along with what he made for Risky Business, Top Gun and the Mission: Impossible movies, Tom Cruise’s net worth also includes $50,000 for 1981’s Taps (his second movie ever); $500,000 for 1985’s Legends; $3 million for 1988’s Cocktail; $9 million for 1990’s Days of Thunder; $13 million for 1992’s Far and Away; $12 million for 1992’s A Few Good Men; $12 million for 1993’s The Firm; and $15 million for 1994’s Interview With a Vampire.
In an interview Roger Ebert in 1986, Cruise recalled his humble beginnings. “For years, all I had were a bed, a desk and a chair,” Cruise said at the time. “When I was making a movie, they put me in hotel rooms. Between jobs, I moved back into my apartment, and my lifestyle dropped considerably.” He added, “It’s a strange thing, being handed so much power, to do whatever you want to do. I’m offered a lot of movies, but I haven’t worked in six or seven months, because I want to sit back and evaluate where I want to go next. My point of view and my values haven’t changed. Everybody wants to push and pull me, but I refuse to change my lifestyle.”
Despite how overwhelmed he was at the time by his sudden wealth, Cruise also confessed that he was grateful for the success he saw early in his career. “Don’t get me wrong. I want to be in this position. But I get inundated with so much information. I spend the day weeding through it,” he said. “Charities, benefits, job offers, requests. And I don’t want a huge company in front of me. I trust the people who work for me, and I spend time with them, and I want to hear their ideas and keep in touch. A lot of the challenge for me right now is simply to get my life together.”
During the interview, Cruise also opened up about his childhood in Syracuse, New York, as the only son of four children. “We stayed with my mother, and she moved around a lot. I went to five different high schools. Thirteen different schools in all. Growing up was . . .” Cruise said of his divorced parents. “I wouldn’t go back to those years for anything. Life was always from one extreme to the next. I never really had any friends. I spent most of my time alone, doing different things, especially little plays and skits.”
He continued of his early acting career, “In high school, I discovered drama. I was a singer, a solo tenor, and I was in glee clubs and choirs, and a teacher suggested I try out for a high school production of ‘Guys and Dolls.’ I got the role of Nathan Detroit. And onstage, working, playing the role, I felt just really happy. At last I was working in something I understood. See, school for me was really difficult because of my problems with reading. I was dyslexic. Finally, on the stage, I felt I had something I felt good about.”
Cruise explained to the publication at the time of how he worked side jobs to earn enough money to support his acting career. “So, I’d saved up a little money from various jobs, and I had no particular plans for college. I was thinking of spending the money for a trip to Europe. But after I finished appearing in the play, I told my folks, ‘I’m going to New York to study to be an actor. I want to see how it goes,’” he said.
