He’s hung off planes during flight, performed a real HALO jump out of a plane at 25,000 feet, scaled and run across the Burj Khalifa building and found new ways of cheating death throughout the Mission: Impossible franchise.
Now, Tom Cruise has bagged himself a Guinness World Record thanks to his performance in this year’s Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.
Cruise, aged 62 and known for conducting his own stunts, has set the record for “most burning parachute jumps by an individual” after jumping out of a helicopter 16 times with a fuel-soaked chute.
“Tom doesn’t just play action heroes – he is an action hero!” said Craig Glenday, Guinness World Records editor-in-chief in a statement. “A large part of his success can be chalked up to his absolute focus on authenticity and pushing the boundaries of what a leading man can do. It’s an honour to be able to recognize his utter fearlessness with this new Guinness World Records title.”
The sequence was filmed in Drakensberg, South Africa.
Cruise and the stunt team ascended more than 7,500 feet before the action star jumped out of a helicopter with the flaming parachute, cutting himself free to deploy a backup parachute. 16 times.
The first parachute would burn for between 2.5 to 3 seconds before completely disintegrating, and for several of the takes, Cruise even had a 50 lb. snorri camera rig attached to his body for a closer shot of the stunt.
Check out some of the prep for the stunt below.
This is not Cruise’s first Guinness World Record.
The leading man also holds the record for the actor with the most consecutive $100-million-grossing movies.
In total, the Top Gun star has been credited in over 30 films that have broken the $100 million mark at the box office. The last 11 of those have been consecutive, starting with Jack Reacher in 2012 – followed by Oblivion, Edge of Tomorrow, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, The Mummy, American Made, Mission: Impossible – Fallout, Top Gun: Maverick, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning and Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.
“Tom is no stranger to record breaking,” explains Glenday. “Over his impressively long and consistent career, he's proved himself to be the most powerful actor in Hollywood and the most bankable star, and he's still the actor with the most consecutive $100 million movies on their resume and the most successful leading action hero at the worldwide box office.”
Combined, the Mission: Impossible franchise has brought in nearly $5 billion since Cruise starred in (and produced) the first film adaptation of the classic television series in 1996.
The eighth installment of the series premiered in Cannes and hit theatres last month. In our review, we said: “It’s with a heavy heart, especially considering the impressive run of tightly wound and thrilling adventures the M:I franchise has delivered, that this legacy-obsessed victory-lap feels like this series’ Die Another Day. If the long-running franchise isn’t dead yet, what’s needed is a Casino Royale–shaped, ground-level spycraft reboot.”
Read our full review of Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning and check out our Special Mission: Impossible Culture Catch-Up.
