What I find strange about the whole thing is how public the break-up was. Like Andrew Sullivan says, there were lots of ways to brush this under the carpet, none of which Paramount took.
"As much as we like him personally, we thought it was wrong to renew his deal," Viacom Inc. Chairman Sumner Redstone told the Wall Street Journal in an interview posted online. "His recent conduct has not been acceptable to Paramount."Is this an example of studios expecting more modest behavior from their stars? Or is the media (both mainstream and blogosphere) take one case of a studio wanting to get out of an expensive deal with a problematic star whose power is declining? Blogcritics also thinks something more is behind this:
While the studio expects serious profitability from its relationships with supposed superstars, there has to be something else going on. These last two movies wouldn't seem to be enough to sever ties with a guy with a track record. That leads me to believe that there might be some other stuff going on.Defamer's conspiracy theory actually makes the most sense:
Viacom Conspiracy Theory: Please note that the pissing contest between Sumner and Xenu began on the same day that Paramount announced a two picture deal for the South Park guys. How's this for a scenario: Tom gets wind of the deal and calls Brad Grey telling him to cancel the Important Pictures pact or he'll leave. Brad Grey kicks it up to Freston who kicks it up to Sumner who -- knowing that negotiations are going poorly and not so fondly recalling being forced to pull the Trapped in the Closet episode or else Cruise wouldn't do press for MI3 -- says, "Fine, goodbye. You and your alien race will bully me no more."
Since when has Paramount become so moral? This is strange. I’m sure that financial problems have appeared.
Posted by: Brenda | August 30, 2006 10:56 AM | Permalink to Comment