The acquisition of the entire Warner Bros. group by Paramount is a colossal business undertaking, with ironclad detractors shouting monopoly, while investigations into the matter are indeed underway in California. In this latest “divisive” Hollywood situation, Tom Cruise takes a clear side in favor of Paramount and especially of a promise from Skydance CEO David Ellison, who will become the manager of the enormous production operation. Cruise clarified the concept, as a guest on the Pat McAfee Show, to discuss the announced Days of Thunder 2.
For Tom Cruise, Thirty Films a Year Justify Paramount’s Acquisition of Warner Bros.
The Skydance CEO, David Ellison, poised to control not only Paramount but the entire Warner Bros. group, after having swooped the deal from Netflix, made a solemn pledge to calm the waters a few months ago: the merger would allow to produce as many as thirty films a year for cinema, across all divisions. It is precisely to this prospect that Tom Cruise clings with joy, which—it’s worth recalling—has a fairly long-standing bond with Paramount, spanning Mission: Impossible and Top Gun (we note this for completeness, though we do not doubt his sincerity).
In the interview Tom explains his work ethic: from the way he pushed the makeup artists of Digger to cut the time of his heavy makeup from six to two hours, to the lawn-cutting techniques he began studying at eight years old after being “fired” without a pocket money for doing it wrong. Since then he has always studied, shaping his life around the improvement of body or mind, but always in service of the “game” to which he has devoted himself: cinema, in a continual raising of the bar for him and for the teams he works with. In this context, he focuses on the core of Ellison’s promise: “Here’s what I think: they will deliver finished thirty films a year. Cinema for me is a community, not an industry. The people in these studios are truly my family. And I know those thirty films will really happen. I want everyone, as a community, to contribute to these thirty films. It won’t be Paramount alone; it will require the input of the whole community. If we succeed, those thirty will become forty. I’m not just thinking about my own film; I see around me people with great talent, and I want them to have an opportunity too. Like what happened to me, to Spielberg or Nolan. And the only way to do it is to create in large quantities. Production calls for production. We’ve had a great summer at the box office, since the Covid era when it seemed finished. The numbers are coming back: Obsession, Odyssey, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, The Devil Wears Prada 2. You can study as much as you want, but you then have to verify what impact the tools you’ve learned to use have on audiences.”
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