Jamie Lee Curtis Attacks Tom Cruise Over His Box Office Superiority
Jamie Lee Curtis claps back at claims Tom Cruise has saved Hollywood in recent years, pointing out her recent success with Everything Everywhere All at Once.
Jamie Lee Curtis is here to remind Collateral star Tom Cruise that he isn’t the only one saving cinema in a major way. Appearing on the Late Late Show with James Cordon in a clip that you can see below, the Hollywood legend took a joking stab at comments previously made by Steven Spielberg via Variety that attributed cinema’s big comeback to Cruise’s major blockbuster hit, Top Gun: Maverick. Ever the comedian, Curtis appeared on the show cracking jokes about her celebrated performance in Everything Everywhere All at Once and went after Cruise by sarcastically saying that he “isn’t the only one who saved show business.”
Jamie Lee Curtis put her resumé on display, sharing that she has been a part of the industry since she was 19 and telling audiences to “do the f***ing math” after revealing that she’s now 64. Further jabbing the audience, she said that she was sure they thought her appearance on the talk show was a way to “promote the best movie of 2022,” which she added, “may not just be the best movie of 2022, but the best movie of a generation.”
She continued heaping on praise for her Everything Everywhere All at Once co-stars’ performances while she was at it. Going even further with her bit, the time came for Jamie Lee Curtis to weigh in on the recent savior-mentality thrown at Tom Cruise, with the Freaky Friday star flaunting her own major box office successes for the audience.
While she didn’t mention them by name, a quick glance at Box Office Mojo reveals that none of Jamie Lee Curtis’ films, as successful and celebrated as they are, raked in the same amount that the Tom Cruise-led Top Gun sequel did. At the number one spot for the highest-grossing film of the SAG-winning actress’ career is the first installment of Rian Johnson’s now-franchise, Knives Out, which brought in nearly $313 million globally with her return to the world of Laurie Strode in David Gordon Green’s Halloween coming in behind at almost $260 million. In third place is the film that we’re all praying gets a remake sometime soon, Freaky Friday, which brought in $160 million at the global box office.
At the time of this article, Everything Everywhere All at Once has a worldwide box office total just shy of $105 million, but seeing as how the film has received re-release after re-release, there’s a chance those numbers could go up. As impressive as all these figures are, Jamie Lee Curtis is still falling short of what Tom Cruise and the rest of the team behind Top Gun: Maverick accomplished, with the film zooming past $1.4 billion worldwide. The summer blockbuster marked a major turning point in the COVID-19 pandemic, with audiences finally returning to theaters to experience the Super Hornets and F-35s up close and personal with that sweet, sweet Dolby Atmos sound.
Despite the difference in box office numbers, Jamie Lee Curtis and Tom Cruise’s big 2022 titles still have plenty to duke out at this year’s Academy Awards ceremony. While both films are up for Best Picture, Best Original Song, and Best Film Editing, Everything Everywhere All at Once blew Maverick out of the skies performance-wise with its four leading cast members Curtis, Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, and Stephanie Hsu all receiving nominations for their performances. So, while she may not have the highest-grossing movie of the year, we’ll still give Curtis and the rest of her cast members credit where credit is due for their own contributions to saving cinema.
