Tom Cruise spotted in the UAE

The superstar has reportedly met with one of Dubai's top media execs to discuss how the UAE can become a 'magnet for global filmmaking'

Tom Cruise has been filming the latest installment of Mission Impossible in the UAE. Getty Images

Superstar Tom Cruise, 55, helped put Dubai's Burj Khalifa on the map when he climbed up the world's tallest tower for 2011's Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, famously performing the vertiginous stunts himself.

And it seems like the actor has returned to the Emirates, with top UAE media executive Ahmad Al Shaikh sharing this photo of Cruise at his home in Dubai on Saturday February 24:

I was happy to host the global superstar Tom Cruise at my house in Dubai. Tom was the first actor to bring a big motion picture to be filmed in the UAE. We talked about the best ways of making the UAE a hotspot and a magnet for global filmmaking pic.twitter.com/eLoLyuohzp

— أحمد عبدالله الشيخ (@Ahmad_Al_Shaikh) February 24, 2018

The latest film in the Mission: Impossible franchise is due for release in July (perfect summer cinema fodder). The latest installment stars Cruise, obviously, as well as the excellent Angela Bassett, Alec Baldwin, Henry Cavill, Ving Rhames, Rebecca Ferguson and Simon Pegg.

THE LATEST: Is Top Gun 2 set to shoot in the UAE?

While Mission: Impossible - Fallout is in post-production, Cruise currently has one very prominent film in pre-production: the Top Gun sequel, which is due out in 2019.

So could he be in the UAE scouting filming locations for it? We can only hope...

With the success of the Star Trek, Fast & Furious and Star Wars shoots in the Emirates, and with the UAE's breadth and depth of aviation tech and hardware, we think it would make a great place to shoot the sequel.

Anthony Edwards and Tom Cruise in a scene from Top Gun. 1986. CREDIT: Courtesy Paramount Pictures? *** Local Caption *** al02au-Top Gun-p4.jpg

One major film shoot set to start in the UAE from tomorrow is that of Salman Khan's Race 3. According to sources close to the production, that shoot will feature a stunt-heavy, five-car pile up on the streets of Abu Dhabi, as well as a Ford Raptor pick-up truck being driven off a bridge in the capital.

Let us leave you with a reminder of the last time Tom Cruise was in the UAE: 

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