Paramount has severed ties with Tom Cruise over purported behavior that CEO Sumner Redstone says hurt the box office of his most recent film, "Mission: Impossible III."
Cruise no longer at Paramount
REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni
"As much as we like him personally, we thought it was wrong to renew his deal," Mr. Redstone said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. "His recent conduct has not been acceptable to Paramount."
But Paula Wagner, Cruise's partner, disputed Redstone's assertions, according to the report. She told the paper that Cruise/Wagner Productions had decided to set up its own independent operation, backed by two unnamed hedge funds. She also noted in her comments to the Wall Street Journal that Cruise had made Paramount vast sums of money over the years.
Cruise has worked with Paramount on hit films such as Mission: Impossible, Top Gun and Days of Thunder.
But speculation has been on the rise that Cruise and other high priced talent are not worth the hassles, especially when mega stars jump up and down on Oprah’s couch and heatedly hector chat show hosts about the history of Psychiatry.
In June 2006 Cruise took the No.1 spot on Forbes magazine's annual list of the world's 100 most powerful stars. In the last 10 years all but one of his movies have grossed more than $200 million worldwide. His top-grossing movie was War of the Worlds which topped $590 million around the world.
Despite three nominations, the Oscar has eluded Cruise.
In May 2006, a USA/Today poll showed his public approval rating had slipped to 35 percent. Many of those polled cited his blunt criticism of actress Brooke Shield's treatment for depression and of psychiatry in general.
Paramount has a new relationship with South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker. The Scientology baiting duo just signed a two picture deal with Paramount Pictures.
Variety reports, "South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have set two live-action films at Paramount. Parker and Stone, who have re-christened their Par-based shingle "Important Pictures," will first make the Jeff Roda-scripted high school comedy My All-American."
Parker and Stone plan to follow with "Giant Monsters Attack Japan!," a film scripted by J.F. Lawton ("Under Siege") that will combine live-action with the "rubber suit" techniques made popular in Asian imports like "Godzilla."
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