I’ve been waiting it out a bit before reporting this news. I’ll tell you why in a moment.
According to Deadline, Tom Cruise has signed a new deal with Warner Bros which would allow him to produce and star in movies for WB. This is said to be a non-exclusive deal, so Cruise can still work with Paramount — where he’s currently shooting a new ‘Mission: Impossible’ movie and ‘Top Gun 3’ is in the works.
I’m thinking that WB hopes he wraps up whatever prior obligations he has over at Paramount and starts making movies with them in the near future. I’m also not sure where this leaves his Doug Liman shot-in-space movie (Universal) — maybe it’s dead.
Cruise is 61, so it’s not like he has decades of films left in him. It’s far too early to know exactly what he might work on, but it’s clear that WB wants to team up with him, and it doesn’t sound like it’s for IP or franchise stuff either. This is a multi-film deal and, except for “Edge of Tomorrow,” there is no other old Cruise/Warner title I can think of that could warrant a sequel — unless Zaslav is hyped up for “Eyes Wide Shut 2.”
Warner is likely where Cruise will make his “gnarly and violent” R-rated original film with Christopher McQuarrie. I cannot wait for that one.
The fact of the matter is that Cruise is one of the last true movie stars left. He can still turn in a hit on name recognition alone. However, here is what gets me very excited about this WB deal … Cruise has been mostly dabbling in action for the last decade, but his talents as a dramatic actor are undeniable — further proof can be found in seminal performances such as “Magnolia,” “Collateral” and “Born on the Fourth of July.”
These last 15 or so years, Cruise’s focus on big budget franchise films, especially the ‘Mission: Impossible’ stuff, has amassed a large audience, but with ‘Dead Reckoning — Part One’ underperforming at the box-office, maybe now is the time for Cruise to hop on-board original films again and showcase his vastly underused talents as an actor.
Criterion's December lineup has some great additions to the library, but the title that jumped out at me is Werner Herzog's "Grizzly Man," which officially joins the Collection on December 8.