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The
film partnership with Cruise marks a coup for Warner Bros Motion
Picture Group's co-chairs, Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy, and
fulfills CEO David Zaslav's oft-stated desire to work with top
talent behind the camera and in front of the camera.
"Inking a deal with arguably the biggest movie star in the
world, Tom Cruise, is hugely significant," said Comscore senior
media analyst Paul Dergarabedian.
"Talent attracts talent and every studio touts their formal
arrangements with high-profile filmmakers and stars so as to
signify to the world their commitment to these highly coveted
creatives."
Cruise, who played a leading role in such films as "Top Gun,"
"The Last Samurai" and the "Mission: Impossible" series, and
will occupy an office on the Warner Bros Discovery lot in
Burbank, as have stars such as Clint Eastwood and Frank Sinatra.
Across his five-decade career, Cruise's movies have earned more
than $12 billion globally, with the 2022 release of "Top Gun:
Maverick," grossing nearly $1.5 billion, according to
measurement firm Comscore. His most recent film, "Mission:
Impossible -- Dead Reckoning Part One" brought in a more
earthbound $568 million in worldwide box office proceeds.
The arrangement with Warner Bros is non-exclusive, with Cruise
working on the next installment in the "Mission: Impossible"
franchise for Paramount Pictures, according to one source.
Warner Bros and the other major studios are working to rebound
from a protracted work stoppage, as Hollywood writers and later,
its actors, walked off the job in 2023.
Writers and actors from Hollywood went on strike demanding
higher wages and protection against the use of artificial
intelligence (AI) in filmmaking.
The dual strikes shut down a large portion of film and
television production, halted late-night talk shows and forced
broadcast networks to fill TV slots with repeats of reality
shows.
The strikes led to a delay in Cruise's next "Mission Impossible"
film as production house Paramount Global also bore the brunt of
one of the longest work stoppages in the U.S. entertainment
industry history.
(Reporting by Dawn Chmielewski in Los Angeles, Zaheer Kachwala
in Bengaluru; Editing by Shweta Agarwal and Michael Perry)
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