Tom Cruise had better get used to a thriftier lifestyle from now on – recent box office failures have resulted in Paramount slicing his pay cheque for Mission: Impossible IV .
In a case of "show me the money!", the Cruisester is sadly no longer the audience draw that he used to be, with his latest action nose-diver Knight And Day only garnering $74m Stateside.
Vulture report that the fall-out of that is that Cruise also no longer commands the mammoth pay loads that he used to.
They say that the teeny actor has “agreed to be paid ‘scale’” (Screen Actors Guild minimum payment) but will reportedly “get a nice back-end after cash break-even”.
In other words, Paramount don’t want to risk paying their star a shedload only to have another dud on their hands. Which sounds like sensible accounting to us. Except when you consider that the studio are still going to be affording M:I4 a budget of $135m.
Alright, maybe "thriftier" wasn't the right word...
Mission: Impossible 4 , directed by Brad Bird, opens on 16 December, 2011.
Think Cruise can deliver for his biggest franchise?
