Tom Cruise Signs Deal With Warner Bros. to Develop and Produce Original and Franchise Films
By Brent Lang
Executive Editor
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Tom Cruise has his next mission.
The ageless action star signed a new deal to develop and produce theatrical films with Warner Bros. Discovery. These movies will be a mix of original productions and franchise fare and will star Cruise, the company said in a release touting the deal. As part of what is being billed as a new “strategic partnership,” Cruise and his production company will have offices on the Warner Bros. Discovery lot in Burbank.
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“I have great respect and admiration for David, Pam, Mike, and the entire team at Warner Bros. Discovery and their commitment to movies, movie fans, and the theatrical experience,” Cruise said. “I look forward to making great movies together!”
Cruise’s upcoming films include the eighth installment of the “Mission: Impossible” franchise for Paramount, as well as an upcoming Universal action movie from “Edge of Tomorrow” director Doug Liman that will see the actor become “the first civilian to do a spacewalk” outside of the International Space Station. He most recently appeared in “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One,” which was a box office disappointment, as well as 2022’s “Top Gun: Maverick,” which was the biggest hit of his career.
De Luca and Abdy previously ran MGM, leaving the studio after its sale to Amazon. At Warner Bros. they have set up “Alto Knights,” a mob movie with Robert De Niro, as well as “Flowervale Street,” a thriller with Anne Hathaway.
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Tom cruise speeds off a cliff in ‘mission: impossible – dead reckoning: part one’ trailer.
The seventh installment in the billion-dollar action-spy franchise returns familiar faces and sets Ethan Hunt (Cruise) up for more high-octane stunts.
By Jackie Strause
Jackie Strause
Managing Editor, East Coast
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Ethan Hunt’s next mission is going to cost him dearly.
The new trailer for Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning: Part On e reveals more of what Tom Cruise has in store when he returns to the IMF agent role he originated in 1996.
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“Your life will always matter more to me than my own,” Ethan tells agents Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) and Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg). “None of our lives can matter more than this mission,” says Luther, to which Ethan replies, “I don’t accept that.”
The logline for Part One reads: “Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his IMF team embark on their most dangerous mission yet: To track down a terrifying new weapon that threatens all of humanity before it falls into the wrong hands. With control of the future and the fate of the world at stake, and dark forces from Ethan’s past closing in, a deadly race around the globe begins. Confronted by a mysterious, all-powerful enemy, Ethan is forced to consider that nothing can matter more than his mission — not even the lives of those he cares about most.”
Christopher McQuarrie, who has directed, written or produced a number of Cruise films, directed and co-wrote the script with Erik Jendresen; he also produces with Cruise. Executive producers are David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, Don Granger, Tommy Gormley, Chris Brock and Susan E. Novick.
Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, Esai Morales, Pom Klementieff, Mariela Garriga, Henry Czerny, Shea Whigham, Greg Tarzan Davis, Charles Parnell, Frederick Schmidt, Cary Elwes, Mark Gatiss, Indira Varma and Rob Delaney round out the cast.
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Peter Bart: After ‘Top Gun: Maverick’s Setbacks And Delays, Its Star Is Back In Cruise Control
By Peter Bart
Editor-At-Large
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It was an intimate cocktail party. Tom Cruise wore a cheerful smile so I couldn’t resist the opportunity to test it. “For someone who’s just been fired, you look very happy,” I said. “Sumner Redstone figured you would be angry by the press release.”
“I’m not really fire-able, if that’s even a word,” Cruise replied, his smile intact. “Besides, prods from CEOs never anger me.”
’Top Gun: Maverick’ From Cannes To Theaters – Deadline’s Complete Coverage
The media briefly fed on the studio press release, but as it turned out, Redstone and Paramount went into retreat mode within a week. Paramount’s long-standing deal with Cruise’s production company had elapsed a month earlier, but the CEO forgot to check his facts before issuing his statement, so Cruise looked smart in ignoring the Hollywood rhetoric (details below).
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The incident took place 15 years ago, but I was reminded of it this week as Cruise was again winning some important battles on his latest, much delayed, movie. Top Gun: Maverick would be destined to “own” Memorial Day weekend with a guaranteed, much extended theatrical run pre-streaming. In addition, two further Mission: Impossible sequels were positioned for lavish takeoffs.
With the New York Times christening him “The Last Movie Star,” Cruise’s four-day opening in North America may reach $100 million in 4,732 locations and perhaps hit $200 million internationally.
So that cheerful smile was still implanted on Cruise’s youthful 59-year-old face last week as he skillfully leveraged his simultaneous publicity blast-offs, one from the zealously self-protective Cannes Film Festival, the other from the British Royal Family. This was an historic PR coup: With war jitters raging, the startling image of eight fighter jets streaming red, white and blue across the Euro sky seemed at once defiant and disturbing.
Cruise’s promotional perils over the years have been matched by the physical stunts that he has orchestrated in defining his past films; his death-defying mountain climbs in M:I – 2 likely worried his studio and insurance carriers more than his feats on Top Gun: Maverick . All represented well-calculated adventures in Cruise Control, designed to nurture his continuum of pre-ordained tentpoles.
Also reflected in Cruise’s pursuit of peril has been his idiosyncratic choice of roles, both starring and supporting: Tropic Thunder, Magnolia, Born on the Fourth of July, Rain Man , etc. “His filmmaking friends understand that Cruise gets more excited about playing assholes than heroes,” says a director who has worked with him but doesn’t want to be quoted. “No other star has the guts to satirize both studio chiefs and porn freaks.”
Once he has signed on, Cruise is dauntless about seeing them through, he adds.
On Rain Man , Cruise remained committed to a challenging script even though filmmakers such as Steven Spielberg, Sidney Pollack and Martin Brest had all committed then backed out. Barry Levinson finally directed the award-winning film, in which Cruise played the younger brother of a severely autistic Dustin Hoffman, linked together on an emotional cross-country journey. In Jerry Maguire , Cruise was cast as a ruthless hustler who was unrelentingly chasing the big bucks, but Cruise turned him into an empathetic figure.
There were also failed ventures, such as Cocktail, Vanilla Sky or The Mummy .
A decade ago, when Cruise and his long-term manager Paula Wagner took control of United Artists, they had the option of pursuing the tentpole route or a more demanding slate. They took the latter path, marshalling a political thriller titled Lions For Lambs . with Robert Redford directing Cruise and Meryl Streep. The ill-fated project ran into a recession, a writers’ strike and financing setbacks for MGM, UA’s parent company. After a succession of disappointments, Cruise seemed grateful to return to the Mission franchise.
‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Review: Tom Cruise Is Back Soaring In What May Be The Role Of His Career
What will be his future scenario? The Top Gun: Maverick launch demonstrated anew his skill at commanding the younger movie audience — the Mission films alone have totaled $3.6 billion in global box office. But the present challenges are real: The army of teenagers who liked Top Gun are pushing 50 now, a difficult demo to conquer.
Surveys indicate that more than half of the 45-and-over crowd haven’t been to a movie in over a year compared with 20% of the 18-24 demo. Cruise’s battle to gain a 45-day-plus window for theatrical release thus will likely prove pivotal — the older audience waits for reviews and word-of-mouth.
So will Cruise ever, in fact, be “fired”? There were conflicting reports 15 years ago over what precipitated Sumner Redstone’s outburst. One of his top aides confided to me that his boss had become grumpy about first-dollar gross deals in general. Why should select stars have major paydays before the studio had recouped?
I finally asked Redstone directly two or three weeks later, when we were dining at Dan Tana’s restaurant. “Why did you aim your rant at Cruise?” I asked. “Under his deal he took no money up front. Not even scale?”
“I understand all that,” the CEO snapped. “I’m closing a new deal with him next week. Same terms.”
“Good. Then you’re biting the bullet, right?”
Redstone grunted. “He is still overpaid. And I can still fire him.”
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