Tom Cruise Uses Governors Awards to Lobby for Moviegoing – Even If You Have to Sneak In

Nobody at the Academy’s Governors Awards on Sunday night in Hollywood thanked Tom Cruise for saving the movie business, but they didn’t have to.

A couple of weeks after October ended as the worst month at the box office in 27 years, and as doomsayers predicted the potential demise of theatrical moviegoing, the Academy gave an Honorary Oscar to Cruise. You could argue that it was for a 44-year acting career that has earned him three nominations, though none since 2000, but the Academy’s Board of Governors clearly had more on their minds than just his acting.

Cruise, after all, is consistently lauded as being one of theatrical’s…