The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences held its annual Oscar nominees luncheon yesterday with over 180 of the nominated people showing up for the event and posing for the class photo.
All eyes were on Tom Cruise though with countless photos and videos going online of the industry stars and titans talking with, or in Guillermo del Toro’s case massively hugging, the “Top Gun: Maverick” star/producer who showed up.
One video though making the rounds, originally shared on Instagram by director Kartiki Gonsalves, captures a conversation between Cruise and his “Minority Report” and “War of the Worlds” director Steven Spielberg.
Towards the end of the 45-second chat, Spielberg tells Cruise: “You saved Hollywood’s ass and you might have saved theatrical distribution. Seriously. ‘Maverick’ might have saved the entire theatrical industry.” The usually confident Cruise was left somewhat blushing by the remark.
“Top Gun: Maverick” became the fifth-highest-grossing film domestically and the eleventh-highest-grossing film worldwide with $1.48 billion at the box-office. Much of its business was helped by gushing reviews from critics and audiences and strong word of mouth leading to solid repeat business for months.
It was only the second movie to gross over $1 billion at the worldwide box office amid the pandemic, and more importantly, became a symbol that audiences are still thirsty for major cinema events outside of superhero films.
steven spielberg telling tom cruise to his face, “you saved hollywood’s ass. and, you might have saved theatrical distribution. seriously. MAVERICK might have saved the entire theatrical industry.” i have to lie down. pic.twitter.com/nYbWbgadM7
— amanda (@marisatomay) February 14, 2023
