The longer Tom Cruise runs, the more money his movies make!

Ever seen a Tom Cruise movie in which he’s not running? If yes, it probably did not do as well as movies like Mission Impossible 3, in which Cruise sprinted for 3,212 feet or Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol where he ran 3,066 feet. No, these numbers have not been derived by a scientific research or a lengthy study, these are numbers compiled by popular movie review and discovery website Rotten Tomatoes.  

According to data gathered by the website, movies in which Tom Cruise runs more than 1,000 feet have a higher Tomatometer average – 71 percent – than the movies in which he runs lesser. “Tom Cruise has sprinted a little over 24,000 feet on screen throughout his 37 years in the movies,” noted Rotten Tomatoes.

How, pray tell, did Rotten Tomatoes get to this conclusion? Well, it wasn’t as fast a process as Cruise bolting in the new Mission: Impossible – Fallout. RT’s methodology, as they describe it, was “time-consuming” yet simple. They counted every time Cruise ran on screen, in seconds, and then calculated the distances ran by him assuming he clocks a six-minute mile (14.6 feet per second).

“The result is a list of estimated distances for each film that we believe is the solidest you’ll find in the online canon of Tom Cruise Running Materials. We then split his movies into four different distance categories, ranging from Zero Feet all the way to 1,000-Plus Feet, to spot the trends,” explains the website.

The Speed 2: Cruise Control study (no it’s not really called that, but why miss the opportunity), also determined that the same movies in which Tom sprints longer than 1,000 ft make more money at the box office, with an average inflated international gross of $538 million. Also, the more he ages, the faster and longer he runs in his films, notes the website.

Here’s some insight into how much Tom Cruise has sprinted throughout his 41-film career:

1. Mission: Impossible III – 3,212 feet

2. Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol – 3,066 feet

3. War of the Worlds – 1,752 feet

4. Minority Report – 1,562 feet

5. The Firm – 1,241 feet

6. Edge of Tomorrow – 1,065 feet

7. Jack Reacher: Never Go Back – 1,051 feet

8. The Mummy – 1,022 feet

9. Mission Impossible – Rogue Nation – 1,007 feet

10. Vanilla Sky – 832 feet

Watch the video compilation of Cruise’s sprinting stunts below.