The rise in popularity of streaming services over the last several years has changed the landscape of Hollywood and entertainment in several ways. Streamers like Netflix, Prime Video, Apple TV+, Hulu/Disney+, and HBO Max made a habit of producing or acquiring movies and TV shows that would play exclusively on their service. And in many cases, studios wanted Hollywood’s biggest stars to be at the center of them.
Adam Sandler and Brad Pitt were among the earliest streaming stars, both working with Netflix, and many followed in their footsteps to headline major projects and receive massive paydays. Over the years, Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds, Chris Evans, Ryan Gosling, Chris Pratt, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Will Smith, Dave Bautista, Mark Wahlberg, Jennifer Lawrence, Christian Bale, Keanu Reeves, Denzel Washington, Robert Pattinson, Jake Gyllenhaal, Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Craig, and more have headlined streaming movies.
Several movie stars have also moved to streaming to make TV shows. Robert Downey Jr. did an HBO series. Harrison Ford currently stars in Apple TV+’s hit show, Shrinking. Emma Stone made The Curse for Paramount+. Margot Robbie had a guest spot on a Hulu series. Even Vin Diesel has gone to the small screen to record lines for Disney+’s I Am Groot animated series. John Krasinski, Alan Ritchson, and others have enjoyed success in this format, too.
It can seem like everyone has dipped into the streaming waters, but that’s not true for Tom Cruise and Jason Statham. The prolific action movie stars have yet to venture away from theaters and make a movie that is released exclusively at home. Neither has gone the streaming series route either, making them outliers in today’s entertainment ecosystem.
Why Tom Cruise & Jason Statham Have Not Done Any Streaming Movies Or Shows
Tom Cruise as Maverick in Top Gun: Maverick
Cruise and Statham are cut from a similar cloth in a lot of ways. They love thrilling audiences by headlining crowd-pleasing action movies that they can experience together on the big screen. Cruise has talked a lot more about his love for the theatrical experience, advocating to keep this part of the entertainment industry alive in any way he can. Statham might not vocalize his support of theaters as much, but his actions make that clear.
They’ve both spent decades proving to audiences that they are stars who can reliably deliver entertaining action movies. Even when they don’t work to the fullest of their potential, the public has still generally been kind to them and kept coming back to see what they do next. It seems both Cruise and Statham understand that doing a streaming movie or show could result in audiences no longer viewing them as theatrical movie-only stars.
There have been some close calls, though, mostly due to the uncertainty raised by the COVID-19 pandemic. Statham’s Guy Ritchie action movie, Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre, was considered for a streaming release domestically after changes at STX. Its theatrical plans were saved by Lionsgate acquiring distribution rights.
For Cruise, he worked with Paramount to stop Top Gun: Maverick from being sold to a streamer, like Netflix or Apple TV. There was interest from those studios to acquire the title and release it directly on streaming, but the franchise star refused to let that happen. These instincts proved to be right, as Maverick became a $1.4 billion hit thanks to how much people loved seeing it on the big screen.
Will Tom Cruise Or Jason Statham Ever Change Their Ways?
Jason Statham being stopped by armed guards in The Beekeeper
There’s a chance Cruise and Statham will both make it through the streaming wars without being active participants. Most studios are realizing the greater benefit of theatrical releases and are increasing output there while decreasing the focus on making as many exclusive movies for streaming.
That’s not to say that streaming movies and shows will go away. They will continue to be a big part of Hollywood for the foreseeable future, even if the number of services and overall productions drops.
It’s hard to imagine Cruise ever turning his back on theatrically released movies. He’s made that format a huge part of his personality over the years, so him doing something for Netflix, Prime, Apple, etc. would look like he’s abandoning exhibitors. As he said in 2022, “I make movies for the big screen.” (via Variety)
Statham is easier to see as the lead of a streaming title. His movies are always incredibly popular on streaming, and he could be someone Netflix or Prime Video eventually recruits to headline a new action franchise and receive top-dollar pay.
But if Hollywood keeps shifting its attention back to theaters and away from streaming, Tom Cruise and Jason Statham may never need to change. They can remain as two of the few stars who were around for the streaming revolution and still only ever lent their talents to the big screen.
Collider Exclusive · Action Hero Quiz Which Action Hero Would Be Your Perfect Partner? Rambo · James Bond · Indiana Jones · John McClane · Ethan Hunt
Five legends. Five completely different ways of getting out alive — with style, with muscle, with charm, with luck, or with a plan so intricate it probably shouldn’t work. Ten questions will reveal which action hero was built to have your back.
🎖️Rambo
🍸James Bond
🏺Indiana Jones
🔧John McClane
🎭Ethan Hunt
01
You’re dropped into a dangerous situation with no warning. What do you need most from a partner? The first few seconds tell you everything about who belongs beside you.
02
You have to get somewhere dangerous, fast. How do you travel? How you get there is half the mission.
03
You’re pinned down and outnumbered. What does your ideal partner do? This is when you find out what someone is really made of.
04
The mission is paused. You have one evening to decompress. What does your partner suggest? Who someone is when the pressure drops is who they actually are.
05
How do you prefer your partner to communicate mid-mission? Good communication is the difference between partners and a liability.
06
Your enemy is powerful, well-resourced, and has the upper hand. How should your partner approach them? The approach to the enemy defines the partnership.
07
Things go badly wrong and you’re captured. What do you trust your partner to do? Who someone is when you need them most is the only thing that matters.
08
What does your ideal partner bring to the table that you couldn’t replace? A great partner fills the gap you didn’t know you had.
09
Every partnership has a cost. Which of these can you live with? No one comes without baggage. The question is whether you can carry it together.
10
It’s the final moment. Everything is on the line. What do you need from your partner right now? The last question is the most honest one.
Your Partner Has Been Assigned Your Perfect Partner Is…
Your answers have pointed to one action hero above all others. This is the person built to have your back — for better or considerably, spectacularly worse.
Rambo
Your partner doesn’t talk much, doesn’t need to, and will have assessed every threat in your immediate environment before you’ve finished your first sentence. John Rambo is not a man of plans or politics — he is a force of nature shaped by survival, loyalty, and a capacity for endurance that goes beyond anything training can produce. He will not leave you behind. He has never left anyone behind who deserved to come home. What you get with Rambo is the most capable, most quietly ferocious partner imaginable — one who has been through things that would have broken anyone else, and who chose to keep going anyway. You’ll never need to ask if he has your back. You’ll just know.
James Bond
Your partner will arrive perfectly dressed, perfectly briefed, and with a cover story so convincing it’ll take you a moment to remember what’s actually true. James Bond is the most professionally dangerous person in any room he enters — and the most disarmingly charming, which is the point. He operates in a world of layers, where nothing is what it appears and every advantage is used without apology. You’ll never be bored. You’ll occasionally be furious. But when it matters — when the mission is genuinely on the line and the margin for error has collapsed to nothing — Bond is exactly the partner you want. He has survived things that have no business being survivable. He does it with style. That is not nothing.
Indiana Jones
Your partner will know the history, the language, the cultural context, and exactly why the thing everyone else is ignoring is actually the most important thing in the room. Indiana Jones is brilliant, reckless, and occasionally impossible — but he is also one of the most resourceful, most genuinely knowledgeable partners you could find yourself beside. He approaches every situation with a scholar’s eye and a brawler’s instinct, which is an unusual combination and a remarkably effective one. He hates snakes and gets personally attached to objects of historical significance, both of which will slow you down at least once. It doesn’t matter. What Indy brings is irreplaceable — and the adventures you’ll have together will be the kind people write books about. Assuming you survive them.
John McClane
Your partner was not supposed to be here. He does not have the right equipment, the right information, or anything approaching the right odds. He has a sarcastic remark and an absolute refusal to accept that the situation is as bad as it looks. John McClane is the greatest accidental hero in the history of action cinema — a man whose superpower is stubbornness, whose contingency plan is improvisation, and whose capacity to absorb punishment and keep moving would be alarming if it weren’t so useful. He will complain the entire time. He will make it significantly more chaotic than it needed to be. And he will absolutely, unconditionally, without question come through when it counts. Yippee-ki-yay.
Ethan Hunt
Your partner has already run seventeen scenarios by the time you’ve finished reading the briefing, and the plan he’s settled on involves at least two things that should be physically impossible. Ethan Hunt operates at the absolute edge of human capability — technically, physically, and intellectually — and he brings the same relentless precision to protecting his partners that he brings to dismantling organisations that shouldn’t exist. He is not easy to know and he will never fully tell you everything. But he will carry the weight of the mission so completely, so absolutely, that your job is simply to trust him — and the remarkable thing is that trusting him always turns out to be the right call. The mission will be impossible. He will complete it anyway.
