Cruise will be launching what is touted as the last in his Mission: Impossible franchise and scores of others will be hoping to follow the path that last year's top prize winner Anora took to Oscar glory.
Alongside them, Robert De Niro will be getting a lifetime achievement award, and actors Scarlett Johansson, Kristen Stewart and Harris Dickinson will all be trying their hands as directors with films competing in the smaller categories.
In Cannes, those worries have dominated backroom conversations, but made no dent on the frontline announcements.
"Nobody wants to be talking about tariffs and Trump here," said Scott Roxborough, European bureau chief for The Hollywood Reporter. "In the industry, everybody's going to be talking about it."
Oscar glory
The festival kicks off on Tuesday evening. The decisions of its jury - chaired by France's Juliette Binoche with Monster's Ball star Halle Berry with her on the panel - will be closely watched.
Anora, the winner of Cannes' top prize the Palme d'Or in 2024, went on to take home five Oscars. Cannes' top film in 2023, Anatomy of a Fall, later won one Academy Award. Its pick in 2019, Parasite, memorably became the first non-English-language film to win the best picture Oscar.
This year, US director Wes Anderson will be launching his new movie The Phoenician Scheme, which will be competing against independent films including the likes of Joachim Trier's Sentimental Value and Julia Ducournau's Alpha.
Films screening outside the competition include the new Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, as well as Spike Lee's Highest 2 Lowest, starring Denzel Washington.
Hollywood's travails might not be centre stage, but world politics has made it into the programme.
Three films about the war in Ukraine will be shown as part of a "Ukraine Day" event.
All screenings are sold out for Put Your Soul On Your Hand And Walk, which follows 25-year-old Palestinian photojournalist Fatma Hassona, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza in April, one day after it was announced that the documentary had been chosen for the festival's ACID programme.
Festival facts
Cannes is the world's biggest film festival, first conceived in 1939 as an alternative to Venice's film extravaganza which was then under the sway of the ruling fascists.
It has been held every year since 1946, apart from 1948 and 1950 when it was cancelled due to lack of funds.
Since then, many of the films showcased there have gone on to Oscar glory. Appearances at the French Riviera resort town have also helped launch the careers of many directors, among them Quentin Tarantino.
Running alongside is the world's biggest film market, drawing more than 15,000 film industry professionals annually.
There are 22 contenders for the top Palme d'Or prize. Other awards include the Grand Prix, jury prize, best director, best actor, best actress, best screenplay and best short film.
Only three female directors, New Zealand's Dame Jane Campion, Julia Ducournau and Justine Triet, both of France, have won the top prize - for The Piano, Titane and Anatomy of a Fall, respectively - and only nine directors have won it twice.
