Movie star Tom Cruise was set to film in space for an upcoming project, but when’s it actually happening? (Picture: Getty)

What feels like eons ago, Tom Cruise was announced as collaborating with NASA and SpaceX to film a movie partly in space where he would also become the first civilian to perform a spacewalk.

It appears Cruise is clearly itching to progress from stunts like riding a motorbike clean off a cliff in Mission: Impossible 7 and abseiling into the Paris Olympics stadium to something in a whole new stratosphere.

Back in 2020 the project and its collaborators – including Road House director Doug Liman – were first publicly spoken of, in relation to a space flight set for October 2021, but things have remained earthbound since.

Of course, the pandemic necessitated it be pushed back, followed by the writers and actors’ strike that then happened, presenting major hurdles, as well as Cruise’s own busy calendar of other movies in development.

Filmmaker Liman meanwhile discussed his involvement, admitting to Thrillist of the almost-first-of-its-kind project that ‘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’.

However, a Russian film crew actually pipped Hollywood to the post by shooting scenes for the first-ever movie filmed in space, at the International Space Station, in late 2021. It was called Challenge.

Universal Pictures’ head Donna Langley teased further details of the US’s bold version by revealing that one of the studio’s plans would see Cruise, 62, ‘taking the world to space’ in October 2022.

‘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,’ she told the BBC.

Langley also shared that the film ‘actually [mostly] takes place on Earth, and then the character needs to go up to space to save the day’, with the chairwoman describing 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’.

But what’s happened since for the movie, which reportedly boats a $200 million (£153.5m) budget, according to Variety?

Well, back in July 2023, Top Gun: Maverick star Cruise confirmed that he was ‘definitely’ still on board.

‘We’re working on that. I’m working on that, definitely,’ he confirmed at the premiere for Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning.

He and director Doug Liman (L) are collaborating once more, after past successes (Picture: Picture Perfect/Rex/Shutterstock)

‘I’ve always wanted to do that… We’ve been doing a lot of research for years,’ he added, as per ITV.

And then all went quiet again.

However, a source has recently claimed that Cruise is still ‘determined’ to get cameras rolling on the space movie.

‘Tom has always been absolutely obsessed with extraterrestrial life forms, which is why he’s so determined to get his space movie off the ground,’ an insider told In Touch Weekly.

Have your say in the comments belowComment Now

Although there aren’t yet any concrete updates, the source also confirmed that the daredevil Hollywood star ‘can’t wait to go up there and float around’.

And in terms of the draw of that ambitious spacewalk for Cruise?

‘It’s not just the ultimate stunt, but he’s also fascinated with UFOs,’ the source added, going on to claim the actor ‘spends hours reading about them and studying all the many classified documents that have been released about them in the last few years’.

The source also said that his interest in the film was ‘partly inspired by his belief in Scientology’.

‘He’s hyper committed to making a big difference in the universe, not just on planet Earth and his movies reflect that, as do his spiritual beliefs,’ they added.

The film, which reportedly has the working title Luna Park, also sees NASA and Elon Musk’sSpaceX working together to support the movie with a spaceflight (Picture: EPA)

Liman has also offered a few breadcrumbs in terms of updates while promoting his new action heist movie The Instigators for Apple TV Plus, starring Matt Damon.

He confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that ‘it’s something we still talk about, for sure’, in late July.

Entertaining a discussion about working with the biggest (and probably busiest) movie star in the world, Liman agreed that there was a built-in understanding that it could be a ‘long while’ before their space film got made.

‘So I go in with that,’ he reasoned. ‘There’s a reason we haven’t gone to space yet, and when we finally do and the movie comes out, I know I’ll look back at it and be like, “Thank God it didn’t happen earlier.”’

And in August, he also succinctly described the film as ‘still a dream and a plan’ to Collider.

So Liman is clearly not worried about stoking fan hype, and all may not be lost – although we’re still not exactly dealing in firm details, and there’s not a whisper of planned production or release dates.

Liman and Cruise are also expected by fans to go into production on a sequel to Edge of Tomorrow at some point too in the future (Picture: Warner Bros/David James)

This space movie is thought to date back as early as 2014 – if not before – and was given the name Luna Park.

As per IMDb, the film lists Mark Bowden, Jason Fuchs and Simon Kinberg as writers, with a synopsis that reads: ‘A group of renegade employees who venture to the moon to steal an energy source.’

Film Stories reports that an early script that was floated back in May 2014 featured the credit ‘revisions by Doug Liman’.

However, a separate listing on the database, called (rivetingly) Untitled Tom Cruise /Space X Project, credits its leading man with the idea and lists Liman and Cruise’s Mission: Impossible director and collaborator Christopher McQuarrie as writers, alongside a story credit for Ferrari producer P.J. van Sandwijk.

Armageddon-style plan might actually save Earth from large asteroids

Liman and Cruise have previously collaborated on sci-fi blockbuster Edge of Tomorrow, for which fans are also hankering after a hopeful sequel, and 2017’s crime thriller American Made.

We’ll keep you posted as more comes in on this movie that may well still see Tom Cruise boldly go where (almost) no actors have gone before.