LOS ANGELES - Just a week after being publicly dumped by Paramount, "Mission Impossible" star Tom Cruise has found independent financial backing for his projects.
Cruise announced the deal with an investor group headed by the Washington Redskins owner, Daniel Snyder, which takes care of the overhead costs of his production company. The LA Times reported that deal will provide Cruise with an annual financial help of less that $3 million and in exchange the group will have the option to finance movies developed by Cruise and his producing partner, Paula Wagner.
Cruise had earlier ended a 14-year relationship with Paramount Studios after they had offered to renew his contract for an annual fee of $3 million, which he rejected. Paramount owner Sumner Redstone said that Cruise's behavior caused them to dump the star. Paramount had been giving Cruise $10 million to finance his staff and other expenses.
After the decision to drop Cruise, his partner, Paula Wagner claimed that they had lined up hedge funds to cover their finances as well as the much larger cost of developing movies. However, Cruise's lawyer Bertram Fields later denied this claim. Now he has managed to rope in investors with solid credentials, but the pressure on him has also increased to deliver movies that are actually seen by people.
