Disney+ Spy Action Thriller With The Biggest Movie Star On The Planet

Along with nabbing Tom Cruise as the star, Knight and Day also reunited Cruise with his Vanilla Sky costar Cameron Diaz. The film follows Diaz’s June Havens, who is a classic car restorer who finds herself caught up with a secret agent (Cruise) who is on the run from the CIA after being set up. As you might expect, both Cruise and Diaz radiate charisma, which gives the film most of its charm.

While James Mangold is a great director and Cruise and Diaz is a seemingly ideal formula for an action-comedy, Knight and Day does not quite live up to its talented team. The film got mostly mixed reviews for being relatively formulaic. It also didn’t make nearly as much money as you would think a Cruise and Diaz collaboration would bring in.

In fact, Knight and Day was only able to handle its funding costs by paying Cruise a lower advance fee for starring in the film. At the time, Cruise usually received an advance fee of $20 million or higher, but he agreed to take $11 million. Cruise also usually had first-dollar gross in his film contracts, but he agreed to only take his share of the revenue after the financiers of the film got their investment back.

Tom Cruise certainly wasn’t hurting for roles at the time, so he must have just really liked the idea for Knight and Day. In fact, Cruise was considering roles in five different films at the time, including Salt and The Tourist, but he decided Knight and Day was the right role for him. Unfortunately, it probably wasn’t the best choice out of the options he had.

Knight and Day ended up grossing a worldwide total of $261.9 million, which was quite a bit lower than expectations for a Tom Cruise action film. In fact, it was the worst attended action film debut for Cruise since the 1986 film Legend. It was also the lowest-grossing opening day for Cruise in a leading role since 1992’s Far and Away.

It seems like several other actors saw the writing on the wall for Knight and Day, as a few different people turned down the film before Cruise signed on. Adam Sandler was offered the role first but declined. Chris Tucker, Eva Mendes, and Gerard Butler all dropped out of the film as well.

In short, Knight and Day isn’t really a high watermark in the careers of both Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz. With that being said, it’s not a bad film by any means, and it’s worth watching if you’re looking for something chill and entertaining. You can stream it over on the Hulu section of Disney+ now.