Tom Cruise, who turns 63 in July, remains one of Hollywood’s biggest draws

Last weekend, the US box office had its best Memorial Day on record, helping theater stocks like AMC to soar and Regal Cinemas to shift over 6 million pounds of popcorn. 

The man at the center of the blockbuster weekend? OK, the man stood next to the blue alien and young Hawaiian girl who were also at the center of the blockbuster weekend? Box office mainstay Tom Cruise. 

All his own stunts

Not quite as pleasing as “Barbenheimer” but not half as jarring as “Glicked,” “Stitchpossible” — the combination of Disney’s “Lilo and Stitch” live-action remake and Paramount’s eighth installment in the “Mission: Impossible” franchise — looks like it’ll be the next portmanteau gripping global moviegoers, with the films bringing in a whopping $260 million between them at the domestic box office over the long Memorial Day weekend. 

As well as a bumper start and broadly positive reviews behind both films, “Stitchpossible” has another ace up its sleeve in bona fide box office royalty Tom Cruise, who is still, even as he approaches his 63rd birthday, one of the biggest draws in Hollywood.

There’s been much talk about the era of the movie megastar being over; looking at his recent box office hauls, Tom Cruise seems to be an exception that proves the rule. From his earliest features, through to his late 1980s and ’90s dominance, and into the franchise-leading, cinema-saving iteration we see before us today, Cruise’s films have grossed a staggering $12 billion at the global box office, per figures from The Numbers.

Still, with the “Mission: Impossible” and “Top Gun” star reportedly looking towards artier, auteur-driven efforts for his next projects — harking back to the days when he fronted films from Stanley Kubrick and Paul Thomas Anderson — maybe even Tom Cruise is done with the idea of the blockbuster movie star.