Tom Cruise's 2017 crime thriller "American Made" is set to join HBO Max in September, giving fresh streaming life to a film that has quietly built a strong reputation despite being overshadowed by his Mission: Impossible franchise. Directed by Doug Liman, who previously worked with Cruise on "Edge of Tomorrow", the film dramatises the stranger-than-fiction true story of a commercial pilot who became entangled with the Medellín Cartel during the 1980s. Its move comes as Cruise generates fresh attention following the announcement of "Days of Thunder 2".

The film casts Cruise as a pilot who worked as a drug smuggler for the cartel before becoming a DEA informant, with Jesse Plemons, Domhnall Gleeson and Sarah Wright in supporting roles. It was well received on release and holds a "Certified Fresh" 85% score on Rotten Tomatoes, where critical consensus praises it as "delightfully watchable". The film arrived at a pivotal point in Cruise's career, before Mission: Impossible — Fallout cemented that franchise's dominance and while he was also attempting to launch a Jack Reacher series.