Last year, actor Tom Cruise had an meeting with the top brass at Warner Brothers Studios, including David Zaslav, Michael De Luca, and Pam Abdy. The meeting consisted of the actor’s passion for movie theaters, specifically through the pandemic era. The actor has had a home but no formal deal with Paramount Pictures, with the last five of seven movies they produced.
However, both parties seem to have had tensions rise in the last several years. Paramount tried giving Top Gun: Mavarik only a 45-day theatrical window before moving it to Paramount+, something Cruise pushed hard against. Cruise was also extremely unhappy. Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One shifted dates four times before landing last summer. On the other hand, the studio was upset that Cruise and writer/director Christopher McQuarrie were constantly changing their script on Mission Impossible, which inflated their budget significantly. Not to mention that Paramount has been a sinking ship for several years, considering selling off their major IPs.
Now Cruise has turned to WB and has signed a first-look deal with the studio. He will be given his own office on the WB lot to help produce his upcoming WB films. He can still, however, work with other studios on separate projects. The main film that De Luca and Abdy want Cruise back for is a follow-up to Edge of Tomorrow. A script for the sequel has been written for years, with director Doug Liman wishing to return. Zazlav has been known to remove completed films simply as a tax write-off, like Batgirl. It’ll be interesting to see how he works with Cruise, who likes to go as big and expensive as possible with his feature films.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
