Tom Cruz Gets a Pay Cut
Paramount Cuts Tom Cruise’s Up-front Salary for Mission: Impossible 4
Insiders tell Vulture that Paramount has lost so much confidence in Tom Cruise that it’s radically restructured his financial compensation and secured much — some say as much as half — of Mission:Impossible 4’s expected $135 million production budget …According to members of the Cruise camp, Cruise is not receiving “scale” but a substantially reduced upfront payment relative to his previous outings with the M:I films]. He will “get a nice back-end after cash break-even,” according to one insider familiar with the situation.
In short, the era of big stars saying, “Trust me, I’m famous! I got this!” seems mostly over: Despite his global recognition, Cruise’s latest film, Knight and Day, has managed to gross only about $74 million domestically and hasn’t yet cracked $190 million worldwide. As the box-office prowess of “first-dollar gross” megastars like Cruise wanes, they now must settle for being paid only after their products prove profitable. (Jim Carrey agreed to a similar deal, accepting nothing up front, to star in Yes Man, but still made off with an estimated $30 million-plus as a result.) (full Article)