The Henry Cavill Box Office Bomb That Almost Starred Tom Cruise

Tom Cruise and Henry Cavill have already shared the big screen in "Mission: Impossible — Fallout," a movie that gave us that amazing arm-cocking moment from Cavill which became internet-famous for being both utterly ridiculous and undeniably cool. But before these two stars faced off against one another in Cruise's long-running action franchise, they were both up for a role in a movie that ended up being a major box office bomb.

Adapting the hit 1960s spy series "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." proved to be quite tricky for Hollywood, with the project almost coming to fruition several times starting in the 1990s. After Quentin Tarantino turned down the opportunity to direct, big names such as director Steven Soderbergh and stars George Clooney, Channing Tatum, and Bradley Cooper were all reportedly involved with the project at various points.

Eventually, Warner Bros. managed to make a go of it with Guy Ritchie directing and Tom Cruise set to star as CIA agent Napoleon Solo, the role played by Robert Vaughn on the original series. Cruise was going to appear opposite now-disgraced actor Armie Hammer, who would play the role of antagonist Illya Kuryakin, and it looked as if this long-gestating adaptation would finally come to fruition. 

Then, Cruise bailed.

Instead of bringing Napoleon Solo to the big screen for the first time, Tom Cruise ultimately decided to keep churning out "Mission: Impossible" movies, vacating the lead role in "The Man from U.N.C.L.E" to focus on making "Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation." While that would ultimately prove to be a prudent decision — at least financially — it did leave Warner Bros. with a heck of a quandary. After finally getting the project moving following years of delays, the studio was suddenly without the star they were sure could do Solo justice and bring moviegoers along for the ride.

Luckily, they also had Superman at their disposal. Henry Cavill had starred in 2013's "Man of Steel," and it seems Warners was eager to leverage his burgeoning movie star appeal to help give "The Man from U.N.C.L.E" the boost it needed. After all, the original TV series had aired some 50 odd years prior, so a relative youngster like Cavill would hopefully freshen up a movie with a title that, let's be honest, just sounds a bit dull.

Lamentably, that approach didn't quite pan out. After Cruise left "The Man from U.N.C.L.E" to star in "Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation," he found himself in a box office duel with Warners. "Rogue Nation" debuted on July 31, 2015, just two weeks before "The Man from U.N.C.L.E" and raked in a healthy $688 million on a budget of $150 million. The film also created a new chapter for Cruise's Ethan Hunt, ensuring the franchise would continue for multiple installments thereafter. Cavill's film, however, was not able to match that success.

When Henry Cavill's action thriller landed on August 14, 2015, it only managed to make $108 million at the global box office on a budget of $75 million. While the critical response was nowhere near as disastrous, it certainly wasn't enough to make up for the film's disappointing box office receipts. The movie has a 68% rating on Rotten Tomatoes at the time of writing, which isn't exactly dismal, but certainly isn't what Warner Bros. and Cavill were hoping for. Worse than any of this, however, is the fact that "The Man from U.N.C.L.E" has been largely forgotten by mass audiences, despite having some pretty decent action and representing Cavill's unofficial attempt to prove he could do the whole spy thriller thing convincingly and perhaps deserved to be in the running for the role of James Bond.

Still, "The Man from U.N.C.L.E" did receive a Netflix renaissance in 2024, which is something — though it will be surely be of little comfort to those involved with the movie. Would "The Man from U.N.C.L.E" have fared better with Cruise in the lead role? It's tough to say, especially since the most recent "Mission: Impossible" installment, "Dead Reckoning Part One," underperformed at the box office after becoming a victim of "Barbenheimer" (though part of the film's financial struggles were due to its covid-inflated budget).

Ultimately, both Cruise and Cavill managed to prove their worth in the "Rogue Nation" follow-up, "Mission: Impossible — Fallout," which featured a mustachioed Cavill in a film that raked in $786 million on a $178 million budget. All of which goes to show that, as Oscar-winning screenwriter William Goldman taught us all, when it comes to Hollywood, "Nobody knows anything."