5 Ways Tom Cruise Can Reclaim His Title As Hollywood's Top Gun

Tom Cruise is stuck in a box-office loop. This past weekend saw the release of Edge of Tomorrow, a brisk sci-fi thriller in which Cruise plays a futuristic fighter doomed to repeat the same battle over and over again. It's one of the best-reviewed films of Cruise's decades-spanning career. But while the film performed strongly internationally, Edge had a disappointing $29.1 million opening weekend in the U.S., and it looks certain to join recent Cruise vehicles like Oblivion, Rock Of Ages and Jack Reacher as domestic underperformers.

The 51-year-old Cruise can't bear all the responsibility for the film's underwhelming opening, of course; Edge opened the same weekend as the blockbusting weepie The Fault in Our Stars, and some moviegoers were surely turned off by the sci-fi film's marketing, which failed to properly set up Edge's time-twisting premise. But it's clear Cruise is slumping: Outside of the Mission: Impossible franchise, he hasn't had a $100 million grosser in the U.S. since War of the Worlds nearly a decade ago, a time when his image took a big hit because of his outspoken religious views and his very public love affair with now ex-wife Katie Holmes. With that in mind, here are some of the biggest problems facing Cruise — and some modest suggestions on how he can once again become Hollywood's top gun.

The Problem: He's Addicted to Being a Leading Man

With a handful of exceptions (Magnolia, Rock of Ages), Cruise doesn't do ensemble pieces: A Tom Cruise movie is always a Tom Cruise movie, placing the actor front and center. And while Edge essentially finds him as co-lead with Emily Blunt, she eventually takes a back seat to the leading man, as Cruise's increasingly confident outsider outruns and outguns everything in his path, ultimately saving the day. It's an action-movie formula Cruise has been adhering to since the '80s, but it's providing diminishing returns these days.

The Solution: Take Smaller, More Interesting Roles

Playing second fiddle has had mixed success before (his Tropic Thunder cameo essentially saved his career, but no one cared about Rock of Ages), but at this stage, he could be well served by taking a role in which he doesn't save the world single-handedly. Playing the villain again, as he did so successfully in Collateral, or finding another ensemble drama, or an unexpected comic supporting turn would restore a lot of goodwill. Don't forget: The McConaissance didn’t start with big star turns, but with humble-yet-notable supporting gigs in films such as Killer Joe and Magic Mike.

The Problem: He's Too Focused on Sci-Fi

Cruise has always been a global star, and to some degree, his recent attraction to science fiction is smart: These films perform like gangbusters in the now-crucial Asian markets. But they're not connecting with American audiences, possibly because they're blending into one another: Fairly or unfairly, the relatively short time between Oblivion and Edge of Tomorrow gave some viewers the impression Cruise was repeating himself.

The Solution: Show Me the Funny

Cruise secured his stardom not through action movies, but with a mix of dramas (The Color of Money), thrillers (The Firm), and the occasional Top Gun. Yet he's been so keen on action and sci-fi lately that younger viewers might not realize how much of a keen comedic performer he can be, as evidenced in everything from Risky Business to Rain Man to Jerry Maguire. We'd advise Cruise to bail on the sci-fi prospects he’s been developing (like anime adaptation Yukikaze) in favor of finding a great rom-com script, or even the long-gestating Les Grossman Tropic Thunder spinoff.

 The Problem: His Taste in Directors Is Getting Bland

For someone who's worked with some of the world's top filmmakers, his choices of late have been mostly safe. Edge of Tomorrow helmer Doug Liman is the most interesting of the recent picks, but otherwise, Cruise's helmers of choice have tended to lean toward the James Mangolds and Joseph Kosinskis of the world, competent journeymen without much vision. Even his trademark Mission: Impossible franchise, which has been unusually auteur-led for a big series, will next be helmed by Christopher McQuarrie, Cruise's go-to-screenwriter, but not someone who distinguished himself directorially with Jack Reacher.

The Solution: Go Back to the Auteurs

A decade or so ago, Cruise wasn't making safe choices when it came to the filmmakers: Brian DePalma, Stanley Kubrick, Paul Thomas Anderson, and Michael Mann all teamed up with the star to great effect. But it's a long time since Cruise let go of control and worked with someone of their caliber, on their own terms (Brad Bird was a smart hire for Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, but that’s not quite the same as Brad Bird making a Brad Bird movie, as terrific as the film was). Contemporaries such as George Clooney and Brad Pitt continue to make a point of working with A-list helmers, so why isn't Cruise looking to work with the Christopher Nolans or Alfonso Cuarons of the world? Or even younger, more up-and-coming directors: The Lego Movie’s Phil Lord and Christopher Miller are tackling one-time Cruise project Carter Beats the Devil, and Edgar Wright (who was courted briefly for Ghost Protocol) needs a new gig now he's off Ant-Man.

The Problem: He Isn't Seen as Being Fun

Few work harder on the publicity trail than Cruise: His lengthy meet-and-greets on premiere red carpets are legendary. But the game has changed in the past few years. Thanks to social media, the era of movie-star-as-god is coming to an end, and the public values relatable just-like-us actors (Jennifer Lawrence and her self-deprecating charm, for instance) over the untouchable megastars of yesteryear. Cruise has a social media presence, but his Twitter is filled mostly with hype or benign niceties, while his TV appearances feel carefully controlled: Even when he appears on a loosey-goosey show such as The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, he plays The Solution: Let Loose

The best thing Cruise could do for his image is to stop worrying so much about his image. Playing more relatable human beings rather than super-spies would ground him more in the public’s eyes. But it's really an off-screen issue: He needs to allow a little more access into his life, away from the red carpet and the talk show couch, to emphasize that he's still, at heart, the ordinary guy that everyone fell for in the 1980s. Not being afraid to get silly would help too: His most likable public appearance in years came on a British chat show, where he impersonated co-star Emily Blunt and Donald Duck.

The Problem: Audiences Still Don't Trust Him

In the mid-aughts, Cruise's growing association with Scientology, and subsequent ill-advised statements, public over-the-top declarations of love to a visibly tense bride and various couch-related antics, turned the star from the guy next door to the weird guy next door who keeps slipping you pamphlets about the evils of psychiatry. Some of the damage has been repaired, mostly because Cruise has kept a relatively low profile in the past few years (he hasn't made an appearance on the cover of Rolling Stone, GQ or Esquire — once staples of his PR strategies — in years). Even so, audiences' trust issues with Cruise might be the single thing holding him back the most.

The Solution: Keep the Faith, but Maybe Keep Quiet About It 

The obvious answer here, from a PR point of view, would be distancing himself from his church, but for better or worse, Cruise's faith is deeply-held and clearly a huge part of his life. Maybe Cruise should return to the stance he had in the midpoint of his career, when he deflected questions about the Church in public. It would be a throwback to the '80s and '90s heyday — and give Cruise a chance to prove that, much like his Edge character, he still has the power to start all over again.