The Divorce: Paramount vs. Cruise

It may be Hollywood’s biggest divorce ever. Tom Cruise has been given his walking papers by his movie studio Paramount Pictures. Apparently the falling out has to do with Cruise’s controversial behavior. It is a stunning move that has all of Hollywood talking; making headlines all over the country. Paramount Pictures has decided to end its long relationship with Tom Cruise and they are making no bones about the reason why the break-up has occurred. In an extraordinary interview with the Wall Street Journal, Paramount’s chairman, Sumner Redstone, revealed that the studio is fed up with his erratic behavior, saying, “His recent conduct has not been acceptable to Paramount. We don’t think that someone who effectuates creative suicide and costs the company revenue should be on the lot.”

Redstone’s public attack on Cruise comes after more than a year of controversies, including Tom’s couch jumping on Oprah, and his now infamous on-air confrontation with Today’s Matt Lauer. The Paramount boss believes Cruise’s antics and his promotion of the Church of Scientology hurt the box office revenue of Mission Impossible III. The film grossed $393 million, considerably less than Mission Impossible II’s $545 million gross.

Tom Cruise’s production partner, Paula Wagner, hit back at Paramount saying Redstone’s comments were “outrageous and undignified.” Wagner says that Cruise who has been at Paramount for 14 years was “not fired” – she says, “he quit,” and that they had already lined up a production deal worth a $100 million allowing them to produce movies on their own.