Scores of Hollywood’s A-listers and D-listers might oppose Paramount’s $111 billion merger with Warner Bros Discovery, but not Tom Cruise.
“I think it’s awesome.”
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That’s what the star of Paramount’s Mission: Impossible and Top Gun franchises told Pat McAfee of the ParaBros merger and David Ellison’s promise of 30 movies a year on the jock’s talk show Tuesday.
“They’re going to deliver 30 movies,” Cruise said on The Pat McAfee Show of the Paramount CEO’s sometimes-mocked vow to increase film production and releases. “It’s a community to me. It’s not an industry. The people in these studios are not just people in the studios. They’re my family.”
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Cruise’s words today come as the dissenting dozen coalition of state attorneys general took a swipe at ParaBros’ bid to retain a $1.88 billion bond in the ongoing antitrust suit. Amid a leaked threat that Paramount might leave Los Angeles and relocate to a red state if a settlement is not in process by October 1, a federal judge has set a March 2 date for the trial.
None of that seems to be on the mind of superstar Cruise today.
One of the all-time biggest boosters of the cinema industry, the Oscar nominee only wanted to talk about movies and the optimistic future he sees for them.
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“I know we’re going to get those 30 movies,” Cruise told McAfee. “I want us all to come together as a community to help make those 30 movies. It’s not just going to be, you know, Paramount doing it. Everyone’s going to need all the help of every artist to be able to do it.”
Emphasizing “community,” Cruise declared that if Ellison and others wanted to revive Hollywood, Hollywood has to get behind them. “We’ve got to help each other to do it,” the actor said.
As much a master of promotion as he is action flicks, Cruise today was talking up his recently announced Days of Thunder sequel in his conversation with McAfee.
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Watch their discussion here:
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