Cruise Trying To Reshape Film Funding?

Kauffman: Deal With Redskins' Owner May Signal Such An Effort

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HOLLYWOOD, Aug. 30, 2006 | by Amy Bonawitz

(CBS)  After Tom Cruise and Paramount Pictures went their separate ways, Cruise quickly found some new money for his movies, but the deal is no blockbuster, reports The Early Show national correspondent Hattie Kauffman.

It may seem a strange marriage, she says: Hollywood's controversial star and football. His new business partner is the owner of the NFL's Washington Redskins, Dan Snyder.

The production deal's worth "just $3 million, chump change in Hollywood," Kauffman says, not enough to make a film, just enough to open an office.

"And to buy some properties," adds Anne Thompson, film editor for The Hollywood Reporter. "That's what it's about: It's about development, it's about finding books and stories and screenplays. … It's about Tom Cruise going into business on his own."

It's "a far cry" from the $10 million-a-year production deal Cruise had with Paramount, Kauffman says.

Last week, he and Paramount, a former corporate partner of CBS, split up. The studio cited his erratic behavior.

Sumner Redstone, the chairman of Paramount parent Viacom, said, "We don't think someone who effectuates creative suicide and costs the company revenue should be on the lot."

The studio claimed his headline-grabbing antics cost it $100 million in lost ticket sales for the movie "Mission: Impossible III."

Whether Cruise can make his own movies is still an open question, Kauffman says.

"What he's done," says David A. Weitzner of the USC School of Cinema-Television, "is found other people's money to invest in his company."

It could be, Kauffman says, that Cruise is trying to create a new way to finance films, with hedge funds and investors rather than studios shouldering the risk.

But, says Thompson, "When people put up money, they expect money back. So it's not the old days, when the studios paid for everything."

As an investor, Kauffman says, Snyder has a proven record of success: Seven years ago, he purchased the team for $800 million. Today, it's worth $1.3 billion.

Though tarnished, Kauffman says, maybe Cruise will also prove to be a touchdown.

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