CinemaCon: Tom Cruise Steals Show at Paramount Presentation

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Simon Pegg and Rebecca Ferguson also took to the stage Tuesday.

Paramount kicked off CinemaCon in Las Vegas Tuesday with the first studio presentation to theater owners. The studio brought out several stars — including Arnold Schwarzenegger and Tom Cruise — while also showing some never-before-seen footage from its upcoming films.

The presentation's highlight was Cruise, in his first public appearance since Scientology doc Going Clear was aired on HBO.

Rebecca Ferguson and Simon Pegg joined Cruise to speak about Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation.

"Here we are at number five almost 20 years later, it's really a dream come true," said Cruise of his franchise. "This movie has a tremendous amount of action of course, but also intrigue and mission twists."

Cruise, 52, presented two new clips from the film, along with a montage from the project, which hits theaters on July 31. Pegg told the audience, "All of what you're about to see, he did it, he really did it," referring to Cruise's stunt abilities. The footage included a scene of Cruise holding on to the side of an airplane as it takes off.

"As always, I will do everything I can to entertain an audience and put as many people into your theaters," added Cruise to plenty of applause.

Cruise took the crowd behind the scenes of the stunt by showing the actual, unedited footage of himself holding on to the outside of the airplane. The plane went up to 5,000 feet with Cruise attached only by a rope. The actor, known for often doing his own stunts, had to wear special lenses and had no protective gear under his clothes for the intense stunt. "I was scared shitless," Cruise told the audience as the footage screened.

"I'm an aerobatic pilot and I've always wanted to do that," he said.

Schwarzenegger was the first celebrity guest to take the stage, wearing his signature sunglasses and leather jacket, to promote Terminator: Genisys. "I would have not gotten involved if I [thought] that we were not going in the right direction with this movie," he said of the new film, the first in a planned trilogy.

The presentation included 12 minutes from the film, with the former California governor warning that it was still a work in progress. The film stars Emilia Clarke, Jai Courtney and Schwarzenegger, and hits theaters on July 1.

Paramount vice chairman Rob Moore then took the stage to speak on the future of the studio and its upcoming slate. He showed the first footage from Daddy's Home, a 2015 comedy which stars Will Ferrell as a stepfather who's threatened by the return of his stepkids' father, played by Mark Wahlberg.

Paramount will kick off 2016 with 13 Hours from director Michael Bay, and later that year will release The Big Short, starring Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling and Brad Pitt. It's currently shooting in New Orleans with director Adam McKay.

Star Trek 3, helmed by Justin Lin, will open on July 8, 2016. A video message featuring J.J. Abrams and Lin was shown to the CinemaCon audience.

After Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles earned $485 million worldwide, Paramount is working on the sequel, which will see the return of Michael Bay as producer and Megan Fox as star, plus the addition of TMNT characters Bebop and Rocksteady, said Moore.

A video message from Derek Zoolander (Ben Stiller) was shown, with the zany character promising that the sequel Zoolander 2, would be a huge "bomb. But not like a bad bomb," said Stiller in character, getting plenty of laughs.