Deal Me In

The status of three lucrative film franchises are making news from all corners of moviedom.

First up, IESB.net offers up a strange twist in the ongoing saga of Tom Cruise and Paramount Pictures:

Crazy as it may sound all things are not lost for Mission Impossible fans. With the recent breakup up between Cruise Wagner Productions and Paramount one would think that the franchise would be forever lost, but that is not the case.

Studio head Brad Grey has gone on record saying that he believes that Tom Cruise is a great actor and that he believes that he will work once again with him. Paula Wagner also has gone on record saying that “she would consider making a fourth "Mission"—at Paramount. "If it's the right script, why not?."

The L.A. Times is reporting that “Tom Cruise has cut a deal with a group that includes the owner of the Washington Redskins to finance the overhead costs of his film production company, sources close to the negotiations said today. Redskins owner Daniel M. Snyder, chairman of Six Flags Inc., is said to be a leading investor in an agreement that would give Cruise less than $3 million annually to finance staff and office expenses. In exchange, Snyder and the others will have the ability to finance movies developed by Cruise and his producing partner, Paula Wagner.

The two-year deal gives Cruise less than the $3 million a year that he reportedly turned down from Paramount Pictures to renew his longtime deal with the studio that expires Thursday. Cruise and Wagner had been receiving an estimated $10 million annually from Paramount to cover their overhead under the soon to be expired deal.”

I knew someone would come along and sign a deal with Cruise/Wagner Productions...I just didn't expect the broker to be tied into a sports team of all things. Strange bedfellows indeed--but O.K.

The Star Trek fansite TrekWeb had this interesting little blurb concerning Star Trek XI:

The search for Spock is on again, as it becomes evident that JJ Abrams' Star Trek story shall focus on younger versions of the original crew.

With the Canadian Fan Expo nigh, the Ottawa Sun made a call to Leonard Nimoy, who joked about having to write a sequel to his I Am Not Spock and I Am Spock books.

"My next title should be I Am Not Necessarily Spock," laughed Nimoy as he considers that his signature character may be played by another actor, one who might need blessings from the archetype (story).

Having received a call from Paramount, Nimoy now speculates about his participation in the next Star Trek film, suggesting that he may be willing to come out of retirement to reprise his Vulcan persona.

"The head of production at Paramount called my agency to tell them about this project and they are aware of [William Shatner]'s and my contribution to the franchise," Nimoy explains, "and they'd like us to know they might want some involvement. It was all very, very general.

"They might possibly want Bill and I to set up the story as a flashback. But that's just conjecture on my part."

If I'm not mistaken, at one time anyway, both Shatner and Nimoy had it written into their contracts to have final casting approval during the time of the original series flicks. The "courtesy" call sounds like an offshoot of such a clause. No matter what the studio's reason for such a call happens to be--I think it's a good idea and the proper thing to do. After all, who knows Kirk and Spock better than Shatner and Nimoy, with the exception of maybe Trek's late creator Gene Roddenberry (1921-1991)?

And finally, Pamela McClintock of Variety reports that all signs are, that Legendary Pictures will once again team up with Warner Bros., and help to finance the Superman sequel.

If Legendary is unnerved, it isn't showing. Like Warners, Legendary insists it will turn a profit on "Superman Returns," and has given all indications that it's on deck to co-finance a sequel.

Like Legendary, all the funds [mentioned in the article] argue that they won't be made, or broken, by just one pic. By investing in a slate of pics over the course of several years, they're virtually guaranteed a return of 10%.

For more on this story, read the complete article here...

I wish I could be "guaranteed a return of 10%" for every "deal" I make--given that the Warner/Legendary partnership also yielded a bigger box office dud called Lady in the Water. Glub__Glub!...