Tom Cruise breaks ankle in stunt, halts production on ‘Mission’ film

LOS ANGELES | Tom Cruise broke his ankle while performing a stunt on the set of the upcoming “Mission: Impossible 6,” causing production on the film to go on hiatus while the actor recovers, Paramount Pictures said in a statement on Wednesday.

Paramount, a unit of Viacom (VIAB.O), said the action movie, which is one of it biggest franchises, remains on schedule to open on July 27, 2018.

Cruise, 55, who is known for doing his own stunts, was seen in a video on celebrity news website TMZ trying to jump between the roofs of two high-rise buildings and landing hard against a wall during filming in London at the weekend. He was later seen limping off the set.

“During production on the latest ‘Mission: Impossible’ film, Tom Cruise broke his ankle while performing a stunt. Production will go on hiatus while Tom makes a full recovery,” Paramount said. “Tom wants to thank you all for your concern and support and can’t wait to share the film with everyone next summer.”

Paramount did not say how long production would be delayed. Hollywood trade paper Variety said filming could be halted anywhere from six weeks to three months while Cruise recovers. Variety said the actor also injured his hip.

“Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation,” in which Cruise reprised his role as agent Ethan Hunt, made more than $680 million at the worldwide box office in 2015, according to movie tracker BoxOfficeMojo.com.

Cruise has carved a career as one of Hollywood’s top-earning and longest-running action stars, much of it built on his reputation for doing his own stunts, including swinging around a Dubai skyscraper and hanging off a plane as it taxied down a runway and took off.

“I just don’t sleep, I just keep going,” he told Reuters in 2015 while promoting “Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation.”

“Mission: Impossible 6” director Christopher McQuarrie told Britain’s Empire magazine in an interview posted on Wednesday that the production schedule would be rearranged to shoot around Cruise while he recovers.

McQuarrie said he did not know how long the immediate hiatus would be and said there are still seven or eight weeks left of filming.

source: interaksyon.com

Tom Cruise lawyer dismisses ‘bizarre’ $1 billion lawsuit over ‘Mission Impossible’ film

LOS ANGELES | A lawyer for Tom Cruise poured scorn on a $1 billion lawsuit alleging that filmmakers stole a screenwriter’s work to create a blockbuster “Mission: Impossible” film, calling the legal action “bizarre.”

Timothy Patrick McLanahan claims the 2011 film “Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol” was based on a script he wrote in 1998 called “Head On,” which he tried unsuccessfully to get made in Hollywood.

He pitched it initially to the William Morris Agency, but “I was told… that they could not use the script as a movie,” McLanahan wrote in the lawsuit, filed in December and published this week by celebrity news website Radar Online.

He alleges agents there then passed the screenplay, without his permission, to Creative Artists Agency (CAA), which represents Cruise, leading to a project he claims became the 2011 “Mission: Impossible” movie.

When McLanahan watched the film, “I immediately realized that the scripts for this movie had been illegally written and produced from Head On’s 1998 copywright,” he wrote in the lawsuit, which names Cruise among 13 defendants.

But Cruise’s lawyer Bert Fields dismissed the lawsuit.

“Tom Cruise has never stolen anything from anyone,” he told AFP Wednesday. “This bizarre lawsuit against 13 people… will be quickly dismissed by the court.”

In his legal filing, McLanahan specified why he is seeking $1 billion.

He noted that “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol” made over $690 million at the box office, some $145 million in DVD and Blu-ray sales, and millions of dollars in film rentals.

“Because the ‘Ghost Protocol’ film generated close to $1 billion, I am asking for this amount in damages,” he wrote in the lawsuit, filed in California on December 17.

source: interaksyon.com

‘Hobbit’ fever beats Tom Cruise at box office

LOS ANGELES – The dwarfs and elves of “The Hobbit” overpowered Tom Cruise to take the box office title for a second time, grabbing $37.6 million in U.S. and Canadian ticket sales as a crowd of new films fought for pre-holiday audiences.

Cruise’s crime drama “Jack Reacher,” a film about a fatal sniper attack, landed in second place with $15.6 million. In third place, adult comedy “This is 40″ pulled in $12 million, according to studio estimates compiled by Reuters on Sunday.

Domestic ticket sales for “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” fell by about 57 percent during the film’s second weekend. Movie receipts typically drop 40 percent to 60 percent each week.

In international markets, “Hobbit” sales reached $284 million and brought the movie’s global take to $434 million, distributor Warner Bros. said.

“The Hobbit” is the first of three movies based on the classic J.R.R. Tolkien novel set in the fantasy world of Middle Earth. The films, produced by MGM and Warner Bros.’ New Line Cinema, are prequels to the blockbuster “Lord of the Rings” franchise that brought in box office gold a decade ago.

Producers of “The Hobbit” and other films hope to enjoy a big boost this week around the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. The current crop will face competition starting on Tuesday, Christmas Day, from Quentin Tarantino’s Western “Django Unchained,” musical “Les Miserables” and comedy “Parental Guidance.”

Sales over the coming days are expected to push 2012 to a domestic box office record. The year is on track to finish with $10.8 billion worth of ticket sales in the North American (U.S. and Canadian) market, according to a projection from box office tracker Hollywood.com. The current record is $10.6 billion, set in 2009.

Over the weekend, “Jack Reacher” debuted just days after the Newtown, Connecticut, school shooting sparked new debate about the impact of movie violence. “Reacher” begins with a sniper killing a handful of seemingly random victims. A red-carpet premiere and a screening to promote the $60-million production were postponed after the Newtown tragedy.

“We opened pre-Christmas with our eyes wide open,” said Don Harris, Paramount’s president of domestic distribution, adding that he expected the film’s box office take to grow over the coming weeks. He said the Newtown shooting had “no effect” on the movie’s opening.

Before the weekend, the studio had predicted sales of $12 million to $15 million.

Adult comedy “This is 40″ stars Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann as a middle-aged couple. The studio billed the $35 million production from “Bridesmaids” producer Judd Apatow as a “sort-of sequel” to 2007 comedy “Knocked Up.”

The president of domestic distribution for Universal, Nikki Rocco, said the film exceeded the studio’s estimates for opening prior to a mid-week Christmas, and dismissed talk of a Judd Apatow slump since his comedy “Bridesmaids,” which opened to $26.3 million in May 2011.

“Adults have choices at this time of year,” Rocco said, citing the broad slate of films already on

offer and those opening on Christmas day.

Comedy “The Guilt Trip,” starring Barbra Streisand and Seth Rogen as a mother and son on a cross-country drive, pulled in $5.4 million over three days. The movie opened two days before the weekend, on Wednesday, scoring a five-day total of $7.4 million.

Also this weekend, Walt Disney Co re-released 2001 animated Pixar hit “Monsters Inc” in 3D. The movie earned $5 million at domestic theaters. Next June, Disney is releasing a prequel to the film called “Monsters University.”

Another new release, the 3D “Cirque Du Soleil: Worlds Away,” with performances by the famous acrobatic troupe, earned $2.1 million.

In five theaters in New York and Los Angeles, thriller “Zero Dark Thirty” about the hunt for Osama bin Laden grossed $410,000 in what box office analyst for Hollywood.com Paul Dergarabedian

described as a “huge limited release start for the film.”

The movie, considered an Oscar contender, will expand nationwide on January 11.

“The Hobbit” was distributed by Time Warner Inc’s Warner Bros. studio. Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc, released “Jack Reacher,” “The Guilt Trip” and “Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away.” Comcast Corp’s Universal Studios released “This is 40,” and Sony Corp’s film studio distributed “Zero Dark Thirty.”

source: interaksyon.com

Tom Cruise defends role in ‘Jack Reacher’, says size doesn’t matter

LONDON - Tom Cruise has defended his role as Jack Reacher in the first of what could be a new action movie franchise, despite being much slimmer and shorter than the character created by author Lee Child in the original books.

Cruise told Reuters Television at the world premiere in London on Monday of “Jack Reacher” that he would not have taken the part if British thriller writer Child had been unhappy.

Child’s version of Reacher — a military sniper — is 6 foot 5 inches tall and weighs over 200 pounds (91 kilograms). Cruise, 50, is just 5 foot 7 inches tall according to the Internet Movie Database, and has a trim physique.

“You know, he (Child) created the character, I had my own opinion that I didn’t say to Lee and then he came back and pretty much reflected what I had felt about it. But had he said ‘look I’d rather not’, I would not have played the character,” Cruise said.

Cruise described Reacher’s size as a “characteristic” rather than a “character.”

“Jack Reacher,” to be released later this month, is based on “One Shot” — one of the series of best-selling novels by Child about the eponymous former soldier turned drifter who travels the United States dealing out his own brand of justice.

British actress Rosamund Pike, who plays the female lead, said she hoped there will be many more Reacher movies.

“We hope this is going to be a great big new franchise for Tom and for Paramount and so to be in the first one is always kind of cool … It’s witty, it’s fast-moving, the plot is … puzzling and incisive and quite dark in places. You know the humor and the violence in this film is pretty edgy and I like that about it,” Pike said.

Cruise was also a producer on the Paramount Pictures movie, which is due for release in the United States on December 21.

source: interaksyon.com

Tom Cruise files $50-M lawsuit over claims he abandoned Suri

LOS ANGELES – Tom Cruise filed a $50 million defamation lawsuit on Wednesday against magazines that claimed he had abandoned his daughter, Suri, following his divorce from actress Katie Holmes.

The “Mission: Impossible” star filed the lawsuit in U.S. court in Los Angeles against the publishers of celebrity magazines In Touch and Life & Style. Cruise’s attorney Bert Fields said in a statement.

“Tom is a caring father who dearly loves Suri. She’s a vital part of his life and always will be. To say he has ‘abandoned’ her is a vicious lie. To say it in lurid headlines with a tearful picture of Suri is reprehensible,” Cruise’s lawyer, Bert Fields, said in a statement.

The lawsuit refers to two cover stories published by the magazines in July and September with the headlines “Abandoned by Daddy” and “Abandoned by her dad.” The September story from “In Touch” claimed that six-year-old Suri, the only child of Cruise and Holmes, had gone more than 44 days without seeing him.

The magazines, owned by privately held German publishing group Bauer Media, did not immediately return calls for comment.

Holmes filed for divorce in June after six years of marriage, seeking sole custody of Suri, in a move that took Cruise by surprise when he was filming in Iceland. They swiftly agreed to a custody arrangement and settled other matters but details have been kept private.

Fields said that despite repeated stories in celebrity media about Cruise and his personal life during his 30-year Hollywood career, the actor rarely resorted to litigation.

“He’s not a litigious guy. But when these sleazy peddlers try to make money with disgusting lies about his relationship with his child, you bet he’s going to sue,” he added.

Fields said Cruise was seeking damages of $50 million and would “undoubtedly give the money to charity” if he wins the case.

source: interaksyon.com

Inside Tom Cruise's Solo Life in London

With his latest home base an apartment in a luxury hotel just outside London, Tom Cruise is a single man again.

As PEOPLE reports in its new cover story, Cruise has been making several calls a day to his daughter Suri, 6, who lives in New York City with mom Katie Holmes, while he's been working long hours on his sci-fi thriller All You Need Is Kill since August.

"He misses his little girl," says his friend, screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie.

Meanwhile, often late at night once film work has wrapped, Cruise has relaxed over spirited dinners and occasional club nights with old and newer friends.

On Sept. 20, Cruise caught a late night dinner with actress Roma Downey and her husband Mark Burnett, who produced the MTV Movie Awards the year Cruise appeared as his Tropic Thunder alter ego Les Grossman.

The night before, he stayed out until 3 a.m. at the nightclub Annabel's, where Cruise hung out with friends including McQuarrie and his wife.

At Annabel's, a laid-back Cruise chatted up several fellow club-goers. "Tom loves the people here [in England]," says a source. "They're friendly."

Earlier in the month, Cruise caught his friend Mark Rylance in Shakespeare's Richard III at the Globe Theatre, and at the end of August he caught up with former girlfriend Penélope Cruz, husband Javier Bardem and his Knight and Day costar Cameron Diaz at a dinner in Coworth Park.

In between, there was a quick vacation to Hvar, Croatia, where he hung with Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder, a past investor in Cruise's production company, and his wife Tanya.

But there's no new romance in his life yet: Three months after Holmes filed for divorce, Cruise isn't ready to date again, sources say.

"When he's in London he's going to be seeing his friends," says a source. "[But] there is no mystery woman."

source: people.com

Tom Cruise's Son Connor Hits Comic-Con After Visit to Dad

It's back to business for the Cruise family.

After visiting recently divorced dad Tom Cruise at his movie location in the California mountains, teenage son Connor Cruise swung by Comic-Con in San Diego on Thursday night to deejay a party.

A private jet took Connor, 17, to the popular, celebrity-filled convention, where he worked the IGN Entertainment party celebrating the new Resident Evil 6 game at the Hard Rock Hotel, opening for Jermaine Dupri and RZA.




"He seemed very upbeat and he looked great," says an onlooker. "He seemed to be having a great time performing for the crowd. Everyone totally ate it up! They were really getting into the music he was playing."




While the younger Cruise was the center of attention in front of hundreds at the bash while performing on stage – his dad's split from Katie Holmes has dominated the Hollywood news – he didn't stick around for the late-night party.

"Everyone was trying to get a minute with him after the set, but he took off soon after," says the observer.

source: people.com

Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes eye settlement — reports

NEW YORK - Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes were seeking ways to settle their divorce as the Hollywood stars entered the second week of a widely followed custody battle that has put their young daughter and the Church of Scientology in the media glare.


Celebrity website TMZ.com, citing an unnamed source, reported that Holmes, 33, and Cruise, 50, are negotiating visitation, child support and a property settlement. People magazine made similar claims and said the estranged couple wishes to avoid airing marital issues in court.

Attorneys for Cruise and Holmes did not return requests for comment on Sunday, but Holmes was photographed a day earlier entering her attorney's office in New York.

In a move that Cruise's spokeswoman said left the "Mission: Impossible" star "deeply saddened," Holmes filed divorce papers in New York in late June, ahead of last week's U.S. Independence Day holiday, citing irreconcilable differences.

According to her attorneys, Holmes is seeking sole custody of their 6-year-old daughter, Suri, and much speculation has surfaced that Holmes wants to raise the young girl outside the Church of Scientology, of which Cruise is a key member.

Cruise flew back to Los Angeles from a film shoot in Iceland early last week, and since then has remained publicly quiet about the divorce. His attorney, Los Angeles-based Bert Fields, has said Cruise wants to remain private.

Cruise and Holmes married in 2006 and have been enthusiastically followed by celebrity watchers, who dubbed the pair "TomKat." Holmes' divorce filing shocked their fans because their marriage seemed to be on solid ground. — Reuters

source: gmanetwork.com