Tom Cruise has added another title to his storied career, this time from Guinness World Records. The 61-year-old action star has been officially recognized for completing the most parachute jumps through fire for a single film.
“The Final Reckoning” (2025), the eighth installment in the long-running franchise, was released in theaters worldwide on May 23. The film features Cruise in his iconic role as Ethan Hunt, once again taking on a high-stakes mission filled with global danger and jaw-dropping action scenes.
To capture one of the movie’s most dangerous sequences, Cruise jumped out of a helicopter 16 times with a parachute soaked in fuel and set on fire. He had just seconds to release the burning chute before it disintegrated midair each time. Then he deployed a backup parachute and safely landed.
Filming took place in the Drakensberg mountains of South Africa. Cruise, a licensed skydiver, undertook rigorous training for the stunt, executing numerous practice jumps beforehand. The production team spent weeks preparing the scene, launching each jump from a minimum altitude of 7,500 feet.
Tom Cruise has been doing wild stunts for a long time in the Mission: Impossible series, and with The Final Reckoning he has a Guinness World Record for most burning parachute jumps by an individual. pic.twitter.com/sKz5y4fXa2
— IGN (@IGN) June 6, 2025
Cruise also wore a 50-pound camera rig on his body in some takes to capture close-up footage of the fiery descent. The goal was to make the audience feel like they were falling through the sky with him.
It’s a powerful image—falling in flames, then surviving at the very last second, said Craig Glenday, Editor-in-Chief of Guinness World Records. “Tom doesn’t just play action heroes—he is an action hero!”
Cruise’s reputation for performing his stunts has become a hallmark of the Mission: Impossible series. In “Fallout” (2018), he became the first actor to film a real HALO jump—a military-style skydive from 25,000 feet with a low parachute release to avoid detection. That scene, like many others, was shot without having a stunt double.
The actor’s drive for realism continues to set him apart in the film industry. “The audience can tell when something’s been cheated, so it’s important to be doing it all for real,” said series stunt coordinator Wade Eastwood.
Cruise’s dedication has paid off at the box office. The Mission: Impossible franchise has earned nearly $5 billion worldwide since the first film in 1996. “The Final Reckoning” had the strongest opening weekend in the series, following the success of “Dead Reckoning” (2023), which received the highest audience score to date.
Cruise also holds the Guinness World Record for the most consecutive $100 million-grossing films by an actor, 11 in total between “Jack Reacher” (2012) and
“The Final Reckoning” (2025).
With his latest stunt, Cruise reminds audiences that action doesn’t have to be computer-generated to be unforgettable.
