Tom Cruise arrived at CinemaCon during a somber moment, earning big applause as he took the stage to debut explosive new footage from Mission: Impossible The Final Reckoning. But he started off by paying tribute to the late Val Kilmer, his co-star in Top Gun who died Tuesday.

Id like to honor a dear friend of mine, Val Kilmer, for a moment, Cruise said to applause. I cant tell you how much I admired his work, he continued, adding that he cherished Kilmer as a human being and was grateful that he made a cameo in Top Gun: Maverick. Cruise then asked the audience to take a moment of silence for Kilmer. If we just all take a moment to remember the wonderful time we had with him lets just take a moment, the star said. Cruise closed with, I wish you well on your next journey.

One of the worlds few remaining movie stars, Cruise flew into Las Vegas to participate in Paramount and Skydances presentation before thousands of global owners gathered on The Strip this week. Specifically, he helped to introduce the full trailer for Mission: Impossible The Final Reckoning and to personally deliver director and longtime partner Christopher McQuarrie one of CinemaCons top honors.

The star gave a speech commending his frequent collaborator for his filmmaking, particularly in working to keep the Mission: Impossible franchise moving forward despite the pandemic and two Hollywood industry strikes.

This man forged through it all and was able to create epic adventures for global audiences, Cruise said. You are an artist for all time. You are our modern-day Thalberg, the star continued, referring to legendary producer Irving Thalberg.

McQuarrie returned the praise when he took the podium to accept his award. Tom saw the potential for the director thats standing here, holding this award right now, said the filmmaker, who was transformed from a top screenwriter to in-demand director with Cruises Jack Reacher (2012) and Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation (2015). Tom, Im here today because of your vision and trust.

The trailer shows Cruises eye-popping action as field agent Ethan Hunt. I need you to trust me, one last time, the star says in the footage for the film, touted as Cruises goodbye to the character.

Cruise has long been an ardent advocate of the theatrical experience, and often participates in CinemaCon even if from afar because of shooting commitments or postproduction schedules. An exception was in 2018, when he turned up to promote Mission: Impossible Fallout and to receive the Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneer of the Year award.

Cruise and McQuarrie have plenty riding on the new film, which hits theaters over Memorial Day weekend. It was originally intended to be the second part of Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning, but those plans were stymied when Dead Reckoning underperformed at the box office in summer 2024, topping out at $571 million globally.

Many pundits believe the movie was, at least in part, a victim of the Barbenheimer effect, i.e., Greta Gerwigs Barbie and Christopher Nolans Oppenheimer, which opened opposite each other several weekends after Mission: Impossible hit theaters. Theaters were still recovering from the pandemic and Cruise himself urged people to see both movies. He likely never imagined it could come at the expense of his own.

After its soft opening, Cruise hit the brakes. He and McQuarrie delayed the second movie which was originally titled Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part Two in order to retool the storyline.

Every choice has led to this, Cruise captioned the Instagram post that revealed the movies official name and first poster in December 2024.

Cruise reprises his role as Ethan Hunt in the eighth film, which also stars Henry Czerny, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Pom Klementieff and Vanessa Kirby. The film also features Hannah Waddingham, Nick Offerman, Katy OBrian and Tramell Tillman.

Cruise and McQuarrie are producing the film for Paramount and David Ellisons Skydance Entertainment, which is awaiting federal approval to complete his acquisition of Paramount.

While Cruise has been open about wanting to keep making Mission: Impossible movies into his 80s, The Hollywood Reporter revealed in November that Paramount wanted to promote the eighth film as the final entry in the franchise, to boost audience interest. Theres also speculation that the pic could go to the Cannes Film Festival in early May.