[Edaily Starin YUN GI BACK Reporter] “Uncle Tom” has come to Korea again. This marks his 13th visit—the most of any Hollywood actor. However, just because he is the star who has visited Korea most frequently doesn’t mean his box office performance has always been top-notch. The excitement on the red carpet and the box office results have diverged more often than one might expect.
Tom Cruise visited Korea on the 1st to promote his new film, “Digger.” Attending a press conference held that day at the Conrad Seoul in Yeouido, Seoul, he expressed his affection for Korean fans by saying, “I want to come 30 more times,” when asked about his feelings on his 13th visit. “Digger,” which opens on the 3rd, is a black comedy that tells the story of how a small crack in a Greenland glacier drilling facility owned by the eccentric tycoon Digger Rockwell escalates into a global catastrophe.

◇8.23 million → 4.02 million → 3.39 million… “Uncle Tom” Has Yet to Reach 10 Million
This marks Tom Cruise’s 13th visit to South Korea since he first came here in 1994 for “Interview with the Vampire.” Following his 12th visit last year for “Mission: Impossible – Fallout,” he has once again broken his own record for the most visits to South Korea by a Hollywood actor in just over a year.
Given his particularly close relationship with Korean audiences, Tom Cruise’s visits to Korea have always been major events for movie promotions. The most successful example was *Top Gun: Maverick* in 2022. During his 10th visit to Korea at that time, he participated in red carpet events and press conferences, and the film went on a long-running box office hit, ultimately attracting 8.28 million viewers in Korea.
However, subsequent results were different. In 2023, “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” drew approximately 4.02 million viewers, and last year, “Mission: Impossible – Final Reckoning,” for which Tom Cruise returned to Korea, attracted only about 3.39 million viewers. Although Tom Cruise personally visited Korea to promote all three films, the number of viewers dropped significantly from the 8 million range to the 3 million range.

Despite being the “friendly Uncle Tom” who has visited Korea 13 times, he has yet to achieve the title of a “10-million-viewer movie” in the country. The Tom Cruise film that has drawn the largest audience in Korea remains “Top Gun: Maverick.” This suggests that the number of visits to Korea or the intensity of fan service does not directly correlate with box office success.
The disparity between visits to Korea and box office performance was also evident in other Hollywood films. In 2023, *Barbie* saw Margot Robbie and director Greta Gerwig visit Korea for a large-scale promotional tour, yet domestic attendance remained at around 580,000. Considering that the film grossed over $1.4 billion worldwide, its performance in Korea was particularly low.
In 2024, *Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga*, for which director George Miller visited Korea for the first time, drew about 1.6 million viewers. This was a significant difference compared to its predecessor, *Mad Max: Fury Road*, which had attracted about 3.95 million viewers in Korea.
“Deadpool and Wolverine,” for which Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, and director Shawn Levy visited Korea together, was spectacular in terms of fan service. Although they generated buzz throughout their visit—including wearing hanbok at a baseball stadium—the final audience count was 1.97 million, falling short of the 3.32 million for “Deadpool” and the 3.78 million for “Deadpool 2.”

◇Visits to Korea: A Booster, Not a “Guarantee of Box Office Success”
There are also counterexamples. “Dune: Part 2” generated buzz well in advance when Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Austin Butler, Stellan Skarsgård, and others visited Korea just before its release. The film ultimately drew 2.01 million viewers in Korea, surpassing the box office performance of its predecessor. This is an example where a visit to Korea positively expanded the existing fanbase’s interest and boosted the film’s buzz.
Ultimately, looking at the numbers alone, it’s difficult to say that a star’s visit to Korea guarantees box office success. Even among Tom Cruise’s films, there was a significant difference in box office performance—ranging from 8.23 million to 3.39 million viewers—and while some films drew only around 1 million viewers despite large-scale promotional events, others saw a significant increase in audience numbers compared to their predecessors.
Industry insiders believe that the role of these visits has changed from what it used to be. A film industry insider stated, “In the past, the mere fact that a Hollywood star set foot on Korean soil was a rare event, but recently, visits by global stars have become more frequent, and promotional channels have expanded from red carpets and press conferences to variety shows, YouTube, and social media.” They added, “Now, it’s more important what kind of image they project in Korea and what kind of content they leave behind than simply ‘who came.’”
A visit to Korea is less a direct “cause” of box office success and more of a powerful booster that heightens interest before a film’s release. Whether this actually translates into ticket sales depends on various factors, including the film’s quality, genre preferences, word of mouth, competing films, and the availability of theaters.
Tom Cruise, who has set a new record with his 13th visit to Korea, has once again found himself facing this test. He has already amply demonstrated his love for Korea and his dedication to fan service. The only question remaining is how much of the intense excitement generated by his visit “Digger” will translate into actual box office success.