Tom Cruise brings 'Top Gun: Maverick' to Cannes

STORY: The release of "Top Gun: Maverick," postponed from 2019 due to the pandemic, is a big ticket draw at this year's festival, which runs from May 17-28.

Cruise delighted fans by signing autographs, and posing for selfies, before his down the red carpet with long time collaborators producer Jerry Bruckheimer and screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie and fellow cast members, including Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm and Miles Teller.

A contingent of French Air Force jets zoomed overhead bellowing red, white and blue smoke as the actor walked up the steps of the Palais des Festivals.

The festival is set to pay a special tribute to Cruise's achievements in cinema at the Wednesday evening screening.

Cruise's last appearance in Cannes was in 1992 for "Far and Away".