Tom Cruise was at Paramount Pictures’ CinemaCon presentation Thursday to promote his upcoming film Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning, but before he did he paid tribute to his Top Gun co-star Val Kilmer, who died Tuesday, by asking the audience of theater executives and press for a moment of silence to honor him.
“I’d like to honor a dear friend of mine, Val Kilmer. I really can’t tell you how much I admire his work, how much I thought of him as a human being, how honored I was when he joined Top Gun and came back for Top Gun: Maverick,” Cruise said.
“I think it would be great if we could all just take a moment and think about all the wonderful times we had with him. Would you all mind doing that? Let’s just take a moment.”
When the moment of silence concluded, Cruise said, “We wish you well on your next journey.”
Cruise spoke at length about the Mission: Impossible franchise overall, hailing the key studio executives and creative collaborators of all the past films in the decades-old film series.
Cruise then gave a lengthy speech praising the franchise’s four-time director, Christopher McQuarrie, recalling the herculean efforts the latter went through helming Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One during the COVID-19 pandemic. Cruise then presented McQuarrie with CinemaCon’s “Director of the Year” award.
The duo concluded the Paramount presentation by introducing the new trailer for The Final Reckoning. The action-packed ride incorporated footage from past films, particularly the CIA break-in sequence from the Brian De Palma-directed 1996 original.
The trailer features returning cast members Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Hayley Atwell, Vanessa Kirby, Angela Bassett, Pom Klementieff, Esai Morales, Henry Czerny, Shea Whigham, and Rolf Saxon as well as new additions like Nick Offerman (playing an intelligence official who can’t quite believe all the crazy things his colleagues say Ethan Hunt has done over the years).
Ethan is a manacled prisoner for a good portion of the trailer, but is then seen in action on everything from a biplane to an aircraft carrier as he and his IMF mates must once again try to save the world from a deadly weapon.
There’s a grim, No Time to Die-like vibe to the trailer that definitely paints a bleak picture of Ethan Hunt’s chances of survival in a film dubbed The Final Reckoning.
Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning cruises into theaters on May 23, 2025.
