Tom Cruise dazzles Cannes for 'Mission: Impossible' premiere

By Miranda Murray

CANNES, France (Reuters) -Tom Cruise hit the Cannes Film Festival's red carpet on Wednesday to a live band rendition of the "Mission: Impossible" theme song as organisers pulled out all the stops to celebrate what may be the action star's last appearance in the franchise.

Expectations had been high for Cruise's return to Cannes three years after he had presented "Top Gun: Maverick" with a colourful jet flyover. He could be seen mouthing "wow" and "bravo" to the band during the performance.

Cruise, 62, greeted fans who had been waiting hours in the French Riviera resort town's unrelenting sun before joining the other stars of "Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning" to walk the carpet.

Fellow cast members Hayley Atwell, Pom Klementieff, Greg Tarzan Davis, Angela Bassett, Esai Morales and Hannah Waddingham posed with Cruise, even snapping a few selfies themselves, before heading into the red-bedecked Grand Lumiere Theatre.

U.S. actors Zoe Saldana and Eva Longoria, as well as Andie MacDowell, sporting a suit, and Cannes jury member Halle Berry were also spotted on their way to the Cannes premiere.

Cruise reprises the role of agent Ethan Hunt for the eighth time in the latest iteration in the series from director Christopher McQuarrie due to hit U.S. theatres on May 23.

With a budget of about $400 million, the new "Mission: Impossible" is one of several big-name films that cinema operators are hoping will help them stay on the road to recovery this year, five years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Box office receipts totalled $8.6 billion last year in the United States and Canada, 25% below the pre-pandemic heights of $11.4 billion in 2019.

(Reporting by Miranda Murray; Editing by Sandra Maler)