One of Tom Cruise’s less-heralded movies is set to get another look on a new streaming service. The Cruise-led post-apocalyptic action-adventure, Oblivion, gets an imminent premiere date on Netflix.
Per Netflix, Oblivion will begin airing via the prominent streaming service on Nov. 1. Oblivion is the latest Cruise movie to find a home on Netflix, joining the Mission: Impossible and Jack Reacher franchises, the latter of which found renewed streaming success this past summer.
Top Gun: Maverick’s Joseph Kosinski Directed Oblivion
Directed by Joseph Kosinski, who Cruise would later work with on Top Gun: Maverick, Oblivion sees Cruise star alongside Morgan Freeman, Olga Kurylenko and Andrea Riseborough. After scavenger aliens destroy the moon and leave the Earth uninhabitable, the film chronicles Cruise’s central character and repair technician Jack Harper, who nearly completes a mission before finding a woman who survived a spaceship crash, leading him to question his purpose and finding out the truth about war. Freeman portrays Malcolm Beech, a veteran soldier and leader of a large scavenger community, while Kurylenko plays Jack’s wife Julia.
Though Oblivion received praise for its ambition, many critics considered the plot convoluting and lacking enough substance, leading to mixed reviews. The movie has a 54% critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes, though it enjoyed some box-office success, making $288 million worldwide against a $120 million budget. Cruise, best known for his work with Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros., has enjoyed a mixed bag with Universal, including critical flops such as The Mummy and less-talked-about successes such as American Made.
Cruise recently returned to Warner Bros. as part of a new strategic partnership deal he signed with the studio in February to develop original and franchise films. His first project of that deal is an untitled movie directed by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Alejandro Gonzalez Iñàrritu which boasts a star-studded cast, including Anatomy of a Fall’s Sandra Hüller, Killers of the Flower Moon actor Jesse Plemons and Roseanne star John Goodman. Production on the upcoming project will soon begin in the U.K., where Cruise has been filming Mission: Impossible 8 for Paramount. Cruise could also do a potential Edge of Tomorrow sequel during his Warner Bros. return, with the actor hinting at a potential follow-up and executives pushing him to make it.
Meanwhile, Cruise will return to Universal for his long-gestating outer space film alongside helmer Doug Liman, who he worked with on Edge of Tomorrow and American Made. Liman offered a positive update on the movie, which was initially announced in 2020 and reportedly boasts a $200 million budget. Cruise will play a down-on-his-luck character who becomes the only man who can save Earth. Though most of the film occurs on Earth, Cruise will shoot some critical scenes in outer space, with NASA and Elon Music’s SpaceX company involved.
Until Oblivion makes its Netflix debut, fans can stream the movie via Amazon Prime Video.