Tom Cruise could be on the verge of making history in 2022, and it has nothing to do with "Top Gun: Maverick" ranking No. 6 in all-time gross box-office receipts.
According to Variety, Cruise will "hopefully" become the first civilian in American history "to do a spacewalk" outside of the International Space Station, once the iconic actor begins shooting his new space adventure for theaters.
Donna Langley, the head of Universal Pictures, recently told BBC News the ambitious space project — which features director Doug Liman (previously known from "Go," "Swingers," and "The Bourne Identity"), and has a reported budget in the $200 million range — has Cruise filming real scenes aboard the International Space Station, and executing a spacewalk.
"Tom Cruise is taking us to space. He's taking the world to space. That's the plan," Langley told BBC. "We have a great project in development with Tom, that does contemplate him doing just that. Taking a rocket up to the space station and shooting and hopefully being the first civilian to do a spacewalk outside of the space station."
Cruise, who has been a consistent box-office draw for nearly 40 years, has a reputation for performing his own stunts in action movies. In that vein, he might seem like a natural fit for an unprecedented moment in cinema history — despite turning 60 years old in July.
Regarding the untitled project, Langley says the movie "actually [mostly] takes place on Earth, and then the character needs to go up to space to save the day."
Langley describes Cruise's character as "a down-on-his-luck guy who finds himself in the position of being the only person who could save Earth."
Further plot details have yet to be confirmed, according to Variety, although it's being reported NASA and Elon Musk's SpaceX company are participating in the project.
Space movies have been a major part of American pop culture for years, dating back to "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968), "Alien" (1979), "Blade Runner" (1982), "Apollo 13" (1995), and "Contact" (1997) still resonating with audiences.
And yet, Variety says no Hollywood studio has previously filmed a narrative feature film in space.
Cruise and Liman have previously worked together on films such as "Edge of Tomorrow" (2014) and "American Made" (2017).
"When a producer proposes something crazy to you, like, let's try to shoot a movie in outer space, and NASA and SpaceX sign on, and Tom Cruise signs on ... you're just a little bit more receptive," Liman told Thrillist last year about the project.
Cruise could earn up to $60 million for the space feature, according to reports. Variety says the above figure would cover Cruise's services as a producer and star, and involve significant first-dollar gross participation.
According to Statista.com, Cruise ranks fifth in the category of "leading actors of all-time domestic box-office revenue," covering the United States and Canada only.
Cruise's movies have cumulatively grossed roughly $4.56 billion worldwide.
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