10 Movie Franchises That Should Die With Their Stars
6. Mission Impossible - Tom Cruise
The irony of this entry is that Tom Cruise didn’t actually bring the property to life. Peter Graves starred in the 1966 television series created by Bruce Geller. In 1996, Brian De Palma decided to reboot the show into a film, with Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt being the new protagonist. The 34-year-old probably didn’t imagine the flick would produce five sequels (so far) and become the apex of practical action.
Tom Cruise still stars, and the 57-year-old just recently signed on for Mission Impossible 7 & 8 after the success of Mission: Impossible - Fallout. Cruise’s Ethan Hunt has become the franchise. Sure, we love seeing Benji, Luther, and newcomer Ilsa, but Hunt is the main reason we have come back six times.
Cruises practical take to stunts has us on the edge of our seat more than any other film could; even just watching him run (which there’s a lot of) is more exciting than most action scenes in other flicks. After all, “Hunt is the living manifestation of destiny.”