If it wasn’t for James Cameron and Avatar: The Way of Water, then Top Gun: Maverick would be the biggest movie of 2022, but it’ll have to make do with being the best blockbuster by far to release in the last 12 months, with the two box office juggernauts each landing a Best Picture nomination at the Academy Awards into the bargain.
Apparently, that isn’t good enough for many fans of the daredevil action hero, who hedged their bets on Cruise landing his fourth Oscar nomination for his return as Pete Maverick. While he didn’t make the five-man shortlist for Best Actor despite the groundswell of support, a lot of people seem to be overlooking the fact that he did gain a nod.
In fact, for his role as the producer of Top Gun: Maverick, the 60 year-old’s first Oscar nod is also the first time he’s been shortlisted for anything other than acting, and it’s the first time he’s been nominated at all since he was egregiously snubbed for the trophy he absolutely deserved to win for his career-best performance in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia.
The downside is that the Mission: Impossible icon won’t be able to hog the spotlight after sharing Top Gun: Maverick’s nomination with the producorial team of Jerry Bruckheimer, David Ellison, and regular collaborator/BFF Christopher McQuarrie, but an Oscar nod is an Oscar nod at the end of the day.
Only on the internet could the masses erupt at indignation at Tom Cruise being snubbed by the biggest awards show in town, when he only went and secured his first nom in well over two decades.