Right now, it doesn’t seem like there’s a bigger movie star in the world than Tom Cruise. Cruise’s status as the one actor crazy enough to do all of his own stunts has made each of his new action films an event, and the tremendous success of the Mission: Impossible franchise and Top Gun: Maverick have confirmed that his audience hasn’t dwindled. While not every Cruise action film becomes that sort of phenomenon, he still brought in modestly successful results with recent genre titles like Jack Reacher, Oblivion, Edge of Tomorrow, and American Made. This only casts a light on the strange failure of Knight and Day, a film that seemed almost destined for box office success.
What Is 'Knight and Day' About?
Knight and Day was a 2010 action-comedy that saw Cruise reuniting with Cameron Diaz for the first time since 2001’s Vanilla Sky, and marked his first collaboration with acclaimed director James Mangold. The offbeat romantic story follows the idiosyncratic secret agent Roy Miller (Cruise), who ropes in the car mechanic June Havens (Diaz) for a wild adventure as they avoid CIA pursuers. Cruise hasn’t been completely consistent at the box office, but his films that failed seem to be the ones where he stepped outside of his comfort zone; a goofy monster movie (The Mummy), a flamboyant musical (Rock of Ages), a dull historical drama (Valkyrie), and a poorly-reviewed piece of “Oscar bait” (Lions for Lambs) weren’t what his fans wanted to see.
However, an action-adventure thriller with a famous co-star, a talented filmmaker, and a fun concept seemed like something that would be right up Cruise’s ally. Knight and Day’s box office disappointment sticks out like a sore thumb in comparison to the rest of his filmography; it was also strange considering Diaz was still a major star at the time, and Mangold had continued to find success in multiple genres with 3:10 to Yuma, Walk the Line, Identity, and Girl, Interrupted. Knight and Day made just over $260 million worldwide (with only $76 million in the United States) on a production budget of $117 million. It would be considered a flop when taking into account marketing expenses and the dues paid to theater owners. Despite the talent behind it, the combination of strange marketing, confusing genre intentions, unfortunate timing, and unfairly negative reviews caused Knight and Day to live in infamy.
'Knight and Day' Didn't Deliver Enough Comedy or Romance
While the marketing and trailers for the film emphasized the action sequences heavily, it also made it clear that this was a “fish out of water” romantic comedy of sorts. Despite Cruise’s long standing success within the industry, doing a comedy as wacky as this wasn’t something he had much experience in outside of his outrageous extended cameo in Tropic Thunder. Seeing Cruise do something so self-deprecating and deliberately aggressive also may have been challenging for some audiences to stomach, as it was his first major release after the leaked Scientology video caused significant controversy in 2008.
Romance was also a strange venture for Cruise. While he had starred in many romantic classics throughout the 1990s with Jerry Maguire, Far and Away, Days of Thunder, and Eyes Wide Shut, he had primarily stuck with action, science fiction, and epic films in the 21st century; this was coincidentally the period when his romantic life became fodder for tabloid journalists. Ironically, the last major romantic film Cruise had starred in was Vanilla Sky, which was fairly divisive. Cruise’s chemistry with Diaz had been heavily criticized, and had been compared against the more favorable response to his relationship with Penelope Cruz in the same film. Audiences may not have been as enthused about seeing Cruise and Diaz paired up together again.
'Knight and Day' Faced Middling Reviews & Box Office Competition
In its first weekend of release, Knight and Day was going up against the colossal box office juggernaut that was Toy Story 3, which became the highest grossing film of the year and made over $1 billion during a time when it was far less common. While theoretically the audience would skew younger than the crowd that Knight and Day was aimed at, the first Toy Story film in over a decade was drawing in kids, parents, and older fans who were nostalgic for the first two films. It was a cross-generational hit that dominated screens, giving other films a short window to try to stake a claim.
Toy Story 3 managed to eat into the success of PG-13 action films aimed at a general audience throughout the summer, including Robin Hood, The A-Team, and Jonah Hex. Knight and Day’s second weekend pitted it against the Adam Sandler comedy Grown Ups, which despite middling reviews, had stronger word-of-mouth and was aimed at general audiences as well. Grown Ups was a much more straightforward comedy than Knight and Day, and the more easily explainable premise may have helped it reach a broader audience.
'Knight and Day's Unfortunate Legacy
It didn’t help that reviews across the board were largely unenthusiastic. While it wasn’t panned as often as Jonah Hex and Robin Hood were, there were few rave reviews that suggested that it was anything out of the ordinary. While Mangold had several great films under his belt, he wasn’t yet a household name that could inspire casual moviegoers to seek out something based on his name alone in the way that Michael Bay or Christopher Nolan could. After faltering against Toy Story 3 in its opening weekend, Knight and Day was quickly forgotten by the end of the summer.
It’s an unfortunate legacy for a film that has a lot of things to praise about it; Cruise’s bizarre comic turn is something genuinely experimental on his behalf, and Diaz is one of our best comic stars whose work often goes unappreciated. Mangold is without a doubt one of the best action filmmakers working today, and while Knight and Day isn’t attempting to be as gritty as Logan or Ford vs. Ferrari, it’s fun to see him try something more over-the-top. It’s also an original concept that’s not based on any previously existing piece of intellectual property, and in today’s film industry, that feels like a rarity. Sadly, reviews, box office competition, and a confusion and tone led this assumed box office shoo-in to be one of the few flops of Cruise’s entire filmography.