In The Last Samurai, Cruise plays Nathan Algren, a disillusioned U.S. Civil War veteran sent to Japan to train the imperial army.
The actor came within inches of death when he was nearly beheaded during a fight sequence.
A sword wielded by his co-star Hiroyuki Sanada narrowly missed his neck after a mechanical horse swung out of control.
The film, directed by Edward Zwick, has made a modest £13.3million in its first three days at the American box office.
Reviews in the U. S. have been mixed. The New York Post called it a 'pandering epic that is as phoney as it is condescending'.
The Chicago Sun Times said it was 'beautifully designed, intelligently written and acted with conviction - an uncommonly thoughtful epic'.
Cruise revealed his relationship with Miss Cruz in 2001, a few months after announcing the end of his ten-year marriage to Nicole Kidman.
He is said to have become an Anglophile while filming Eyes Wide Shut with his then wife in Hertfordshire.
It has been suggested that he is planning to buy a house in London and send the two children he adopted during the marriage, eight- year- old Connor and 11-year-old Isabella, to an English school.
