Tom Cruise, Paramount end production deal

By Steve Gorman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Paramount Pictures and actor Tom
Cruise called an end to their 14-year production deal on
Wednesday as the chairman of the studio’s parent company took a
parting shot at the movie star’s off-screen behavior.

“As much as we like him personally, we thought it was wrong
to renew his deal,” Viacom Inc. Chairman Sumner Redstone told
the Wall Street Journal in an interview posted online. “His
recent conduct has not been acceptable to Paramount.”

Paula Wagner, the actor’s longtime partner in his movie
company, Cruise/Wagner Productions, struck back at Redstone,
calling his comments about the three-time Oscar nominee
“offensive” and “undignified.”

“Whatever remarks Mr. Redstone would make about Tom Cruise
personally or as an actor have no bearing on what this business
issue is,” she told Reuters. “There must be another agenda that
the studio has in mind to take one of their greatest assets and
malign him this way.”

Five films starring Cruise and co-produced by his company,
including the “Mission: Impossible” series, have generated
theatrical revenues totaling over $2 billion worldwide during
the past decade. And Wagner said his films accounted for about
15 percent of the studio’s overall box office gross over that
period.

Moreover, Wagner insisted that she and Cruise chose to
leave the Paramount lot and establish a new venture financed
through a private, revolving equity fund of $100 million.

“We in fact made a decision not to continue our
relationship with Paramount Pictures,” she said.

Viacom and Paramount executives declined further comment on
the situation.

The war of words between Redstone and Wagner marked a
bitter end to one of the most lucrative production alliances
between a major Hollywood studio and an A-list star.

STAR POWER DIMMED

And it followed other signs that Cruise’s stature had been
damaged by a string of publicity faux pas ranging from his
manic, couch-hopping profession of love for actress Katie
Holmes last year on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” to his strident
denunciations of psychiatry.

Although Cruise recently topped Forbes magazine’s annual
list of the world’s 100 most powerful celebrities, his latest
film, “Mission: Impossible III,” opened in May to
lower-than-expected ticket sales.

Days later a USA Today/Gallup poll found that Cruise’s star
power had dimmed considerably in the eyes of the public, with
more than half of those surveyed registering an “unfavorable”
opinion of the actor.

Many cited his off-screen behavior during the past year,
including his intense public discussions of his faith in
Scientology and his blunt criticism of actress Brooke Shields
for taking medication to treat postpartum depression.

Cruise also became the butt of jokes, and a frequent target
of tabloid gossip, for his high-profile romance with the much
younger Holmes, who recently gave birth to Cruise’s first
biological child, a daughter named Suri.

Last month, the Los Angeles Times reported that Paramount
Chairman Brad Grey was in talks with Cruise/Wagner seeking to
slash the amount of money the studio pays for the production
company — from over $10 million to $2 million a year.

Wagner disputed those figures, and said the collapse in
talks with Paramount did not stem from a disagreement over
money but from an opportunity to go “in a new direction.”

The departure of Cruise/Wagner from Paramount comes as all
the studios are taking new measures to curb expenses in the
face of escalating production and marketing costs and slumping
growth in DVD revenues.

Cruise’s latest film, “Mission: Impossible III,” went on to
amass $393 million in ticket sales around the world, a tidy sum
but far less than his 2005 release from Paramount, “War of the
Worlds,” which topped $590 million globally.

Reuters/VNU