Word: paramount
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...That's the gist of the war of words between Tom Cruise's production company and Paramount Pictures following news from the film studio's parent late Tuesday that it was severing ties with Cruise/Wagner Productions after 14 years...
...Sumner Redstone, chairman of Paramount owner Viacom, told the Wall Street Journal, which first broke the story on its website, that Cruise's "recent conduct has not been acceptable." Redstone cited the actor's public comments defending Scientology and criticizing psychiatry. "As much as we like him personally, we thought it was wrong to renew his deal," Redstone is quoted as saying in the Journal...
...interview with TIME.com Tuesday night, Paula Wagner, Cruise's partner, said that days before Paramount's move, the two producers had already decided to leave the studio, accept an offer of a $100 million-a-year revolving fund from a group of private investors and produce their future film projects independently. (Under terms of its "first-look" deal with Paramount that recently expired, Cruise/Wagner was paid an annual chunk of money to cover overhead and development costs - a sum estimated by sources at the studio to be around $10 million, although Wagner insists it was much less than that...
...decision by Paramount to end a business relationship with an A-list star like Cruise comes as all of the major studios are sweating out the gate receipt tallies every weekend, aggressively cutting the size of star-driven production deals and all other costs, and looking for ways to mitigate financial risks. It's a reflection of just how sensitive their publicly traded corporate parents have become about any issue that could pose a threat to the bottom line. It probably wasn't lost on Paramount executives that about half of the people queried in a USA Today/Gallup poll several...
...Officials from Paramount and Viacom declined requests to elaborate on Redstone's comments to the Journal, or to react to Wagner's version of events. However, when told about her contention that she and Cruise walked away before being cut loose, a source close to the studio responded dismissively, "Whatever...