Tom Cruise Embarks on His Next Mission Impossible: Instagram

You hear that sound? It’s a cry of despair as a group of “influencers” and “tastemakers” realize their increasing lack of social media importance. Why? Because Tom Cruise just slid into Instagram smoother than he slid into that living room in Risky Business.

Cruise has become the latest prominent man about town to join Instagram, debuting his account on Thursday as a clever means of promoting his upcoming film Mission: Impossible—Fallout. As of press time, Cruise has ‘grammed two photos of behind-the-scenes action, although only one of the snaps is him jumping out of an airplane. (Should be both, frankly.) He also has the requisite short-and-cheeky bio in place: “Actor. Producer. Running in movies since 1981.”

Interestingly, although for wholly separate reasons, Cruise has become one of many A-listers to suddenly join Instagram this month. Despite strictly swearing off social media in the past, Natalie Portman debuted her Instagram page on New Year’s Day as a means of supporting the Time’s Up movement, entirely dedicating her account to taking action against workplace sexual assault and inequality. Cruise, however, is taking more of a fun, “hey, fans” approach, sort of like other recent stars who joined Instagram, like….Well. Never mind.

As for Cruise—and for the sake of some well-informed speculation—his foray into the world of Instagramming comes at an opportune time, to be honest. While his Mission: Impossible franchise has always been popular and bankable at the box office, his 2017 slate of films wasn’t, uh, hugely successful. His take on The Mummy got slammed by critics around the world and was declared a box office bomb; and although his other film, American Made, was received far more kindly by critics, it didn’t make a huge splash at the box office as intended.

You heard it here first: 2018 will be the year of Cruise.

Related: Quentin Tarantino Has Talked to Tom Cruise, Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt About His Next Movie