Tom Cruise & Doug Liman’s Mena gets a new title & release date

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Tom Cruise and Doug Liman must think they’re such badasses that they can just go around, all willy-nilly, and change titles for everything. Before the movie EDGE OF TOMORROW had that title it was called ALL YOU NEED IS KILL based on the manga of the same name. Then there’s…well…that’s about it actually, but still, they’ve done it again.

Now, they’ve gone and changed the name of their upcoming project, MENA, to AMERICAN MADE, and on top of that, have pushed the film’s release date back a whole nine months from January 6, 2017 to September 27, 2017.

Think they own the damn world…

Anyway, there’s no reason yet as to why the big move, but it may have to do with the fact that putting out a Cruise movie in January is a little odd. He still pulls in big bucks, and the first month of the year is sort of considered a “crap month”. That’s the month where, normally, terrible mainstream movies get dumped and/or when Oscar movies get expanded. It’s no place for a big star like Cruise, and he can easily sell a movie closer to the summer months.

As for the title change, AMERICAN MADE tells the story of TWA pilot Barry Seal who was caught smuggling drugs for the Medellin cartel in the 80’s, and was then tapped by the CIA to act as an informant. The original title, MENA, referred to Mena, Arkansas where much the story's activity took place, so aside from that, the title was a little obscure. But AMERICAN MADE has an edgier, more satirical feel to it. It reminds me of this year’s WAR DOGS, sort of a bio/comedy/crime/satire/action-y flick.

I dig the title change, and giving them an extra nine months means more time to make it perfect, so I’m all for it. If it’s half as good as EDGE OF TOMORROW, it should be a pretty entertaining piece of work.

MENA, now AMERICAN MADE comes out September 27, 2017 starring Tom Cruise, Domhnall Gleeson, Jesse Plemons and Sarah Wright and directed by Doug Liman.