Steven Spielberg is seemingly crediting Tom Cruise for “saving Hollywood” with the theatrical release of Top Gun: Maverick.
The Fabelmans director caught up with Cruise at the Oscar nominees luncheon and their encounter was caught in a video that has now gone viral. Spielberg congratulated Cruise on hitting the “milestone” last year by bringing back audiences to the theaters.
“You saved Hollywood’s a**,” Spielberg is seemingly heard saying in the video first shared by Oscar nominee Kartiki Gonsalves, director of the documentary short film The Elephant Whisperers. “And, you might have saved theatrical distribution. Seriously. ‘Maverick’ might have saved the entire theatrical industry.”
Top Gun: Maverick, directed by Joseph Kosinski, was released in May 2022 and has grossed more than $1.48 billion globally.
In a separate interview, Spielberg is saying that he has no regrets about turning down the offer to direct Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, the film that established the whole franchise.
“There were several films I chose not to make,” Spielberg told “RRR” director S.S. Rajamouli during a conversation in India (via Insider). “They offered me ‘Harry Potter’ and I chose to turn down the first ‘Harry Potter’ to basically spend the next year and a half with my family, my young kids growing up.”
Spielberg continued, “So, I sacrificed a great franchise — which today looking back I’m very happy to have done — to be with my family.”
Chris Columbus ultimately ended up directing the first adaptation of the J.K. Rowling book series that was released in 2001. Columbus also directed the sequel Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets which was released the following year.
Armando Tinoco
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