After scoring the top-grossing film of his career with last year's Mission: Impossible 2, Tom Cruise returns to theaters on December 14 with the dramatic thriller Vanilla Sky. Starring in hit movies has become second nature to the popular actor who has secured eight $100M+ blockbusters in his career including five straight from 1992 to 1996. Few good men have displayed the kind of clout at the turnstiles as Tom Cruise. As one of Hollywood's most bankable stars, the actor's last seven major releases have grossed a staggering $2.1 billion worldwide for a stunning average of $305M per picture. Films like Taps, Losin' It, The Outsiders, and All the Right Moves made Cruise into a teen idol in the early 1980s before Risky Business grossed an impressive $64M turning him into a bona fide box office star. The Golden Globe-winning actor then parlayed his sex symbol status into two huge blockbuster smashes - 1986's Top Gun which soared to $177M and 1988's Rain Man which nabbed four Oscars and $173M in domestic ticket sales.

Up next for Tom Cruise is a can't-miss collaboration with Steven Spielberg in the science fiction thriller Minority Report set for next summer. Clinging to his thirties, the talented star could certainly make many more installments in the Mission: Impossible franchise which would make Paramount very happy. And winning an Academy Award is still on his to-do list so expect him to take a variety of roles while keeping with his strategy of working with the industry's top directors.

The table below lists the box office grosses of Tom Cruise's starring vehicles over the last dozen years:

Updated : December 5, 2001

Written by Gitesh Pandya