On Monday night, Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One held its New York premiere for crowds of mask-free fans, with journalists packed shoulder-to-shoulder on a long, winding red carpet, as per the report by The Hollywood Reporter.

It was a far cry from the social distancing requirements during the height of the pandemic, when the seventh Mission: Impossible movie was filming.

The Tom Cruise starrer dealt with multiple setbacks caused by COVID-19 during its multi-year shoot. Filming shut down at least five times due to the pandemic, with Cruise and writer-director Christopher McQuarrie ultimately contracting the disease, and audio of Cruise insisting that the crew abide by COVID restrictions went viral.

So, with the film finally set to hit theaters on Wednesday, Cruise told The Hollywood Reporter Monday night that it was “amazing” that he and the team behind the film were able to get through those challenges and share the movie with an audience.

“We talked about it. We dreamed about it. It’s very, very special,” Cruise said. “On Top Gun: Maverick, they kept pushing the movie and pushing the movie, and for [McQuarrie] and I, this is such an ambitious movie. And it was a very challenging film to produce, and then everything happened, and it was even more challenging. So to have this response…is very, very special.”

Dead Reckoning is being released after a number of summer tentpoles underperformed at the box office, including The Flash, Elemental and Indiana Jones.

The latest Mission: Impossible title was tracking at the end of June to launch with a franchise-best $65 million or more in North America, and theater chains are likely hoping it lives up to and even exceeds those expectations.

But Cruise, a vocal champion of the big-screen experience, isn’t stressing over ticket sales yet.

When asked if he felt pressure for his latest film to perform well at the box office, he told THR, “I’m just going to make the best films that I can make, and I want them all to perform well, and I want all of the other films to perform well.”

He added, “I think about a movie in terms of the quality and longevity, I invest everything in it. So, really, my job is just to try to make the best film I possibly can to entertain the audience for that particular genre.”

Cruise has already shared his enthusiasm for Indiana Jones, Barbie and Oppenheimer, both opening the week after Dead Reckoning, on July 21, saying he plans to see all of those films in theaters.