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Home Front Economy

Cruise to resurrect United Artists studio

2006-11-04

Tom Cruise has struck a deal with movie giants Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to make films under the United Artists banner, two months after being dumped by a rival studio. A statement from MGM said Cruise and longtime production partner Paula Wagner would relaunch UA, the legendary studio founded by movie greats including Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin 85 years ago.

Cruise raised eyebrows after jumping on chat show host Oprah Winfrey's couch to declare his love for fiancee Katie Holmes.

The reborn UA, which has been mothballed in recent years after being acquired by MGM, will initially produce four films a year. Cruise and Wagner would be responsible for development, production and "greenlighting" projects, MGM said.

The deal is a coup for Cruise, whose 14-year relationship with Viacom's Paramount Pictures ended acrimoniously in August. Viacom chief Sumner Redstone said the company had axed the superstar because publicity surrounding him was harming the company. Cruise raised eyebrows after jumping on chat show host Oprah Winfrey's couch to declare his love for fiancee Katie Holmes, and courted controversy for attacking Brooke Shields over her use of medication for postnatal depression. Paramount said the stunts hurt box-office takings for his most recent film, Mission: Impossible III.

Posted by:Fred

#4 Scientology Pictures Studio?

Can we expect more Battlefield Earth drek?

Posted by: OldSpook 2006-11-04 17:55

#3 Does this mean the Film Actors Guild will have their own studio?

Posted by: SteveS 2006-11-04 11:08

#2 Cruise may have a point here. I suspect that he is assembling old, reliable studio talent that was fired in the great takeover of the studios by non-entertainment businesses.

The idea is that these corporations have really botched the movie business, thus leaving an opening for an old-model studio to do things the old fashioned, and successful, way.

The final straw was that the corporations decided as an oligopoly to end the "star system", and drastically cut the pay of the big name Hollywood talent, in favor of increasing the corporate bottom line. That is totally un-Hollywood, and guaranteed to cause an actor revolt.

Every actor dreams of "hitting the big time" and raking in multi-million dollar pay for big screen work. To take away that incentive is intolerable for them. This means that a resuscitated United Artists could soon be bulging at the seams with the best talent in Hollywood.

So if he can pull it off, everyone will want in, from directors, screewriters, actors, production staff, etc. Eventually, if you don't work for UA, you might as well practice saying "Would you like fries with that, sir?"

Posted by: Anonymoose 2006-11-04 10:01

#1 Paramount said the stunts hurt box-office takings for his most recent film

Had nothing to do with it being crap.

Posted by: Skidmark 2006-11-04 02:44

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