All rather sounds like the Law of Diminishing Returns all round....
diminished popularity, diminished credibility with female fans (used to
be a big chunk of his fan base) diminished box office, diminished
cognizance that the GP aren't generally interested in his religious
convictions, or actively find them to their dislike.
And of course he's no longer a spring chicken.
I'm reminded of the career arc of Stallone. We saw the beginning, the
middle and the fade-out to quiet (if well-heeled) semi-retirement with
the occasional announcement of a new Rambo.
Or Harrison Ford...
20-30 years isn't a bad career as an actor who doesn't want to move into
another area like directing or writing.
Phil
David Kusumoto wrote:
*Front page of this morning's WSJ with all the grisly details....*
**
*-koose.*
=======================
**
<http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115628557000642662.html?mod=todays_us_page_one>
Sumner Redstone
Gives Tom Cruise
His Walking Papers
Star Alienated Paramount;
His Production Company
Now May Go Independent
By *MERISSA MARR*
August 23, 2006; Page A1
As a nearly untouchable star for most of his 25-year movie career, Tom
Cruise isn't used to Hollywood studios showing him the door. But after
a year of Mr. Cruise's controversial and sometimes odd public
behavior, the studio he has long called home is ushering him off the lot.
[Tom Cruise]
In an unusually public rebuke, *Viacom* Inc. Chairman Sumner Redstone
said that his company's movie studio, Paramount Pictures, plans to end
its 14-year relationship with the 44-year-old Mr. Cruise and his
film-production company. In an interview, Mr. Redstone, who is 83, was
clear about the reason: Mr. Cruise's public antics and incessant
stumping for personal causes, notably Scientology, have become
intolerable and have been a drag on ticket sales for films like
"Mission: Impossible III."
"It's nothing to do with his acting ability, he's a terrific actor,"
said Mr. Redstone. "But we don't think that someone who effectuates
creative suicide and costs the company revenue should be on the lot."
As a consequence, Paramount will not renew the expensive deal that has
made the studio home to Cruise/Wagner Productions, the company Mr.
Cruise owns with partner Paula Wagner. That deal in recent years paid
Mr. Cruise and Ms. Wagner up to $10 million a year to develop films
and operate an office on the Paramount lot. Mr. Cruise's
representatives had indicated in recent weeks that the star might be
willing to discuss a less-lucrative deal to stay at the studio. But
now they are parting ways.
"As much as we like him personally, we thought it was wrong to renew
his deal," Mr. Redstone said. "His recent conduct has not been
acceptable to Paramount."
After being contacted by The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Cruise's
representatives presented a different version of events. They said
that Mr. Cruise's production company had decided to set up an
independent operation financed by two top hedge funds, which they
declined to name. Ms. Wagner said such an arrangement represented a
new business model for top actors prominent enough to take advantage
of the flood of money coming into Hollywood from Wall Street.
"This is a dream of Tom and mine," Ms. Wagner said. She challenged Mr.
Redstone's assertion that Mr. Cruise's behavior had cost the studio
ticket sales, pointing out that the star's movies have made the studio
a huge amount of money.
Mr. Cruise's agent, Rick Nicita of Creative Artists Agency, said Mr.
Cruise was "offended" upon learning of Mr. Redstone's comments. "This
was done in an incredibly graceless way," he said.
The differing accounts of the split between Paramount and Mr. Cruise
are a climax to more than a year of controversies that have badly
dented Mr. Cruise's public image and, for the first time, called into
question his once-unchallenged star power. Those events included Mr.
Cruise's relentless promotion of the Church of Scientology, the
religion founded by science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard.
On NBC's Today show last summer, Mr. Cruise launched a sermon about
the evils of antidepressants, taking a swipe at actress Brooke Shields
who wrote about her use of the medicine to help cope with postpartum
depression in her book "Down Came the Rain." Scientology is opposed to
modern psychiatry and its medications.
Open criticism of powerful stars was once rare in Hollywood. But
celebrity clout has declined with the industry itself. The burgeoning
celebrity press has overexposed big stars like Mr. Cruise and put a
harsh spotlight on their every move, as seen in the scandal over Mel
Gibson's drunk-driving incident in Malibu last month.
[Sumner Redstone]
Mr. Redstone's hard line signals the lack of patience studios have
these days with expensive deals that don't deliver. Studios have been
curbing profit-sharing deals and pulling out of costly movies. Even
Jim Carrey, once one of Hollywood's hottest commodities, has been
struggling to get movies off the ground: Paramount recently delayed
his comedy "Ripley's Believe It or Not" and Twentieth Century Fox
pulled the plug on another comedy, "Used Guys."
One person familiar with the situation said Paramount had not, as of
Tuesday morning, informed Mr. Cruise's camp that the studio would not
renew the deal. Another person familiar with the situation said Mr.
Cruise's camp also had not informed Paramount that they were working
on a stand-alone production deal backed by hedge funds.
Since setting up shop on the Paramount lot in 1992 with Ms. Wagner,
his former agent, Mr. Cruise has enjoyed one of Hollywood's most
lucrative studio deals. The studio's package included offices in
Lucille Ball's old digs and a discretionary fund of up to $6 million
to develop movie projects. Mr. Cruise also enjoyed a rich income from
his movies that included 20% of the box-office revenue and a big chunk
of DVD sales, among other things.
For many years that made sense: Mr. Cruise was as close to a sure
thing as it gets at the box office. During his time at Paramount, star
vehicles from "Top Gun" to "War of the Worlds" have hauled in more
than $3 billion at the box office alone. Mr. Redstone agrees with Ms.
Wagner that Mr. Cruise made a lot of money for both the studio and
himself over the years.
[Sumner Redstone and Tom Cruise]
/Sumner Redstone and Tom Cruise at a May screening of "Mission:
Impossible III," in Los Angeles./
However, alarm bells began ringing in Paramount's executive suite last
year when Mr. Cruise started letting his guard down in public. In
2004, he fired publicist Pat Kingsley, who had kept a tight lid on his
public comments, and replaced her with his older sister and fellow
Scientologist, Lee Anne De Vette. Soon, cracks started to appear in
the public image of one of Hollywood's most controlled stars. He spoke
openly about Scientology, even getting into heated arguments with
reporters over his faith. In an interview with the German magazine Der
Spiegel last year, Mr. Cruise lashed out after the reporter suggested
that Scientology was a pseudoscience.
In another interview, with Rolling Stone, Mr. Cruise took the reporter
on a tour of the Scientology Center.
An episode on Oprah Winfrey's television show was also widely
ridiculed. He bounced exuberantly on her couch as he effused about his
love for fiancée Katie Holmes. "He had never behaved this way before,
he really went over the top," said Mr. Redstone, speaking about Mr.
Cruise's behavior in general.
As Paramount prepared to release "M:I:III," the studio realized that
female fans were falling by the wayside, apparently turned off by Mr.
Cruise's behavior. Paramount attempted to pull the focus back on the
movie by having Mr. Cruise perform stunts at multiple screenings
around the world, including jumping out of helicopters and speeding on
race boats.
Still, Mr. Redstone estimates that Mr. Cruise's behavior cost the
movie between $100 million and $150 million in ticket sales.
"It was the best of the three movies" in the series, said Mr.
Redstone, saying that the first few minutes of the action adventure
are "breathtaking." "While it will still be profitable, it grossed
less than the other two movies." "M:I:III" sold $393 million in
tickets at the box office world-wide, compared to $545 million for the
second Mission Impossible movie and $457 million for the first.
When Mr. Cruise's production deal expired this summer, Paramount
jumped at the chance to do something about the situation. According to
people familiar with the matter, Paramount told Mr. Cruise's camp that
if they wanted to negotiate, Cruise/Wagner's price needed to drop into
the ballpark of the deal that Brad Pitt's production company, Plan B,
has on the Paramount lot. Plan B gets about $2 million plus a $500,000
discretionary fund each year, according to people familiar with the
situation.
Senior Viacom managers, particularly Mr. Redstone, were eager to see
Mr. Cruise leave. However, studio executives went through the motions
of appearing to be willing to negotiate a new deal.
At first there was little reaction from Mr. Cruise's camp. But his
representatives subsequently signaled that they might be willing to
engage in further discussion of the matter, people familiar with the
situation said. Mr. Nicita said they later held off negotiating
because they felt Paramount lacked a "respect, appreciation and
gratitude" for Cruise/Wagner and Mr. Cruise.
A senior executive at Paramount confirmed that, while there has been
an offer on the table, there have been no conversations in the past
several weeks.
Ms. Wagner says her company in the meantime explored other options,
including a deal with hedge funds to provide around $100 million in
financing.
"We want the freedom creatively to basically function as our own mini
company where we make all the decisions," says Ms. Wagner. "We had a
very good relationship with Paramount and we worked very diligently to
try to make the arrangement work but our dream was to self finance."
Despite his tough stance, Mr. Redstone says he has no hard feelings
with Mr. Cruise, whom he has usually greeted with a hug when the two
men see each other. "I feel badly," Mr. Redstone said. "Essentially
he's a decent guy and a great actor."
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