Tom Cruise's space movie isn't sci-fi, nor will it actually be shot in space

You all remember when the news broke that Tom Cruise was going to shoot a movie in space, and that Doug Liman would direct? Well, we hate to be the bearer of bad news, but that Tom-Cruise-in-space film isn’t going to be shot in space. And oh, yeah, it’s also apparently not going to be sci-fi. We not only understand your pain, but we also feel it, too.

Well, a little bit will be shot in space. But most of it will be filmed right here on Earth. According to a very skeptical report from Variety, this as-yet untitled film “will be only partially shot on the International Space Station” while “the majority will be filmed on Earth, with additional footage likely to be shot on a rocket.” Huh. Talk about grounding expectations.

The piece goes on to add that it also won’t be “a sci-fi movie but rather an action-adventure story in which Cruise plays a down-on-his-luck guy who finds himself in the position of being the only person who could save Earth.”

Oh, and that plan by Space Entertainment Enterprise, the company co-producing the film, to build a commercial component of the International Space Station to make content in a “low-orbit, micro-gravity environment?” Apparently, that’s news to Universal Pictures, which greenlit the project. The piece doesn’t mention anything about Elon Musk and his SpaceX capsule’s reported involvement in the project.

The studio plans to begin filming next year (which would make the idea of shooting in space more than just a little overly ambitious) and is currently awaiting a script from Liman and Christopher McQuarrie.

So, all in all, some very disappointing news, thought, to be honest, the whole thing felt too good to be true, and more than a bit of a longshot. Then again, isn’t believing in things that feel too good to be true part of what it means to be a fan?