Tom Cruise Loved “The Flash” So Much He Called Director Andy Muschietti

Rarely has a superhero film that’s not out yet generated so much positive A-list attention. The Hollywood Reporter had this interesting scoop right as this past weekend was getting underway—Tom Cruise got a chance to see director Andy Muschietti’s The Flash, and he absolutely loved it.

We already know that new DC Studios co-chief James Gunn has seen the upcoming DC film (made before Gunn and co-chief Peter Safran took over DC Studios) and called it one of the best superhero movies he’s ever seen. Now THR reveals that Cruise got to see a special screening of the movie at his Beverly Hills house after a conversation with Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, and he was so taken with the film that he dialed up director Muschietti to tell him as much.

Sources tell THR that this all happened in late February after Cruise had a meeting with David Zaslav, and the latter mentioned how exceptional The Flash was. Cruise was intrigued and asked to see it. This being Tom Cruise, Zaslav made the movie available to him so that Cruise could watch it at home, with a Warner Bros. employee bringing the film to his house and staying until he finished it, then taking it back to the studio.

Here’s how THR describes what happened next: “Cruise was so taken by what he saw that soon after, he reached out to Muschietti. It was a call out of the blue for the director. Cruise is said to have raved about the movie, saying something to the effect that Flash is ‘everything you want in a movie’ and ‘this is the kind of movie we need now,’ according to insiders.”

Cruise clearly has a feel for what kind of movie the industry needs right now, considering his triumphant Top Gun: Maverick was catnip for audiences and critics alike. And while Maverick had all the ingredients for a gangbusters action-adventure film mixed together perfectly, it sounds as if The Flash, with its stellar cast and ace director, has all the superhero ingredients audiences crave assembled in perfect balance.

The Flash finds Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) using his super speed to race back in time to try and change the course of history and save his mother’s life. In doing so, however, Barry ends up in an alternate universe in which General Zod (Michael Shannon) is very much alive and determined to wipe out Barry and anyone else standing in his way. Making this problem even worse is that in this universe, there are no other meta-humans (that is, superheroes like Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, etc.) which is why Barry has to recruit the only other superhero around who happens to be decidedly human and non-meta—Michael Keaton’s aging Batman.

Getting the Cruise seal of approval is yet another very positive bit of buzz for a film that doesn’t open until June 16. Warner Bros. is so enthusiastic about the film that, like Paramount did with Cruise’s Top Gun: Maverick, the studio is bringing The Flash to CinemaCon to screen the film in its entirety for theater owners. Cruise himself has become arguably the most high-profile champion of the cinema and theaters, with none other than Steven Spielberg telling him, “you might have saved theatrical distribution” at an Academy Luncheon before the Oscars. Spielberg was referring to Cruise’s insistence on keeping Top Gun: Maverick in theaters, which resulted in a massive $1.49 billion haul and helped kickstart the return to theaters for audiences across the globe.

With both Gunn’s and Cruise’s raves, The Flash has a very good chance of getting audiences to speed into theaters again.

For more on The Flash, check out these stories:

Michael Shannon’s Return as General Zod in “The Flash” Surprised…Michael Shannon

“The Flash” Will Premiere at CinemaCon 2023

“The Flash” Posters Reveal Michael Keaton’s Batman in Iconic Cape & Cowl

“The Flash” Trailer Reveals Michael Keaton’s Batman, Supergirl, & So Much More

Featured image: Caption: (L-R) EZRA MILLER as Barry Allen / The Flash, EZRA MILLER as Barry Allen / The Flash and SASHA CALLE as Kara Zor-El / Supergirl in Warner Bros. Pictures’ action adventure “THE FLASH,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures/™ & © DC Comics