Unlike usual red carpet appearances, the superstar spent four hours casually chatting with the audience before the film began. Fans asked him if he missed his newborn daughter Suri, and the actor smiled. 'How can you not? She's beautiful!'
Shortly after entering the theatre to introduce the film, he re-emerged and continued his conversation with the crowd. The high topic was the uncommon name chosen by Tom and actress Katie Holmes, and he said he felt it was sweet, and 'a lyrical name.'
Football fans just had to ask him about the World Cup, and Cruise revealed he was rooting for England -- a very popular answer that was cheered dramatically -- because he was friends with David Beckham.
Mission: Impossible III, directed by Lost creator J J Abrams, sees Cruise reprise the character of agent Ethan Hunt, and pits him against Oscar-winner Philip Seymour Hoffman. It opens in the US on May 5.
Photograph: Getty Images