Tom Cruise lands Guinness World Record for fiery parachute stunt in ‘Mission: Impossible'

Tom Cruise has done it again—and this time, he’s literally on fire. In Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, the eighth and final chapter of the blockbuster spy saga, Cruise pulled off one of his boldest stunts yet and landed himself a Guinness World Record in the process.

The longtime face of the franchise jumped out of a helicopter 16 times with a parachute doused in fuel and set ablaze. Yes, really. This flaming freefall earned Cruise the record for most burning parachute jumps by an individual, according to Guinness World Records.

“Tom doesn’t just play action heroes—he is one,” said Craig Glenday, editor-in-chief at Guinness. “He’s all about authenticity, and this record is proof of just how far he’s willing to go.”

The scene was shot in Drakensberg, South Africa, where Cruise and the stunt team spent weeks prepping before taking the plunge from a whopping 75,000 feet. To make the stunt even more jaw-dropping, Cruise wore a 50-lb Snorri camera rig on several jumps to get the perfect shot.

In a behind-the-scenes clip, Cruise calmly preps the team: “We’re gonna be real smart. I’m not saying be risky. We don’t take risks… obviously.” Spoken like a man moments away from leaping into the sky on fire.

Directed by Christopher McQuarrie, who co-wrote the script with Erik Jendresen, The Final Reckoning picks up where Dead Reckoning left off—with Ethan Hunt battling a rogue AI known as The Entity. The stakes? Global chaos.

Alongside Cruise, the film reunites franchise regulars Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Vanessa Kirby, and Hayley Atwell, and introduces newcomers like Hannah Waddingham (Ted Lasso), Nick Offerman, Katy O'Brian, and Stephen Oyoung.

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning hit theatres on May 23. The stunts are real. The stakes are high. And Tom Cruise? Still running, still jumping, still doing the impossible.