The Oscar ceremony is undoubtedly considered the most important stage in the film world. But two of the biggest stars of the past cinema year skipped this year's ceremony at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles: Neither "Top Gun: Maverick" actor Tom Cruise (60) nor "Avatar: The Way of Water" director James Cameron (68) were present at the 95th Academy Awards. However, the reasons for this are different.

According to master director Steven Spielberg (76), Superstar Cruise did nothing less than “save the cinema” last year with the immensely successful “Top Gun 2”. However, he was not nominated for Best Actor at this year's Academy Awards. Still, "Maverick" was considered one of the underdog favorites in the king's Best Picture category, and Cruise could have picked up that Oscar as a producer on stage.

But as "People" reports, citing Cruise's management, the 60-year-old action star was in the UK to film "Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two". The eighth "Mission: Impossible" part is scheduled for release in the summer of next year. Before that, viewers can expect "Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One" in July of this year, and thus the seventh part of the long-lived action film series.

Legendary director and Oscar winner Cameron was nowhere to be seen at the Oscar ceremony. His "Avatar" sequel "The Way of Water", which was only released at Christmas 2022, has blossomed into the third highest-grossing film in cinema history to date with box office earnings of almost 2.3 billion US dollars - and was nominated for the Oscars four times, including also as "Best Film".

The 68-year-old filmmaker was also nominated for an Oscar as a producer for "Avatar 2", but was absent from the award for "personal reasons". His production partner Jon Landau (62) revealed this to New York Times journalist Kyle Buchanan. This is all the more surprising since Cameron attended a dinner with other nominees on Saturday evening.

Neither Avatar: The Way of Water nor Top Gun: Maverick won Best Picture at the Academy Awards. Out of four nominations, "Top Gun 2" finally got a golden boy for "Best Sound", while "Avatar 2", also nominated four times, triumphed in the category "Best Visual Effects". "Avatar 2" director Cameron has already won three Oscars in his long and successful career, while Cruise has only four nominations to show.