Tom Cruise has spent years behaving like movie theaters appointed him their unofficial ambassador. He flies jets for our entertainment, hangs off moving aircraft and regularly uses his own social media to encourage people to see other filmmakers’ movies on the biggest screen possible. Steven Spielberg once credited Top Gun: Maverick with helping save theatrical distribution, too. At this point, I assumed Cruise probably hissed whenever somebody mentioned watching a movie on streaming. Apparently, I had him all wrong. The Mission: Impossible star discussed his devotion to cinema and clarified something that may surprise people who have watched him spend years evangelizing about theaters during an interview with GQ. Apparently, he has absolutely no beef with Netflix, television or streaming. Cruise explained:Movies are — this is about humanity. I have nothing against cable or TV or Netflix. I think it’s great. Create jobs and everything. But what I like about cinema is it is all of us coming together in a room and sharing an experience.That tracks with pretty much everything the Days of Thunder star has done over the past several years. When Top Gun: Maverick finally hit theaters in 2022 after pandemic delays, he refused to send the movie directly to streaming. It eventually made nearly $1.5 billion worldwide, which is why Spielberg later said the blockbuster may have helped save theatrical distribution during a brutal period for movie theaters.The Rain Man actor carried that same philosophy into his honorary Oscar speech at the 2025 Governors Awards. He talked about sitting in theaters as a kid and being fascinated by the beam of light hitting the screen. He also described cinema as a place where audiences from wildly different backgrounds can laugh, feel and experience something together.So, yeah, the guy is serious about this. What I appreciate about his answer, though, is that he is not pretending folks with a Netflix subscription, or the streamer itself, somehow killed art. Streaming employs a ton of people and has given filmmakers another place to make things. Cruise just knows which version of the experience he prefers. Given the man’s filmography, I doubt anyone is shocked.(Image credit: Warner Bros.)The Last Samurai performer’s comments arrive as he prepares for Digger, his first major departure from action-heavy franchise filmmaking in years. Alejandro González Iñárritu’s dark comedy stars Cruise as Digger Rockwell, described as the world's most powerful man, who sets out to convince everyone he can save humanity after creating a catastrophe himself. The movie also stars Riz Ahmed, John Goodman, Sandra Hüller, Michael Stuhlbarg and Jesse Plemons. It was shot entirely in VistaVision, and you can even get yourself a ‘Yeehaw’-worthy themed popcorn bucket for the flick's release.Cruise remains pretty optimistic about where movies are headed. He acknowledged that Hollywood has always gone through ugly periods, but said he is excited by the number of people still showing up to theaters and what audiences seem hungry to watch. That enthusiasm feels very on-brand for a man who seems physically incapable of casually liking movies.Digger hits the 2026 movie calendar and theaters on October 2, and I couldn't be more excited. As original and awesome as the movie looks, it's clear Cruise is in a bit of a sequel era, with a Days of Thunder sequel on the horizon. So, this fella is full of surprises beyond his non-beef with streaming.