Tom Cruise is taking David Ellison at his word and feeling pretty confident that Paramount chief will deliver on his promise of releasing 30 films a year from a combined Paramount and Warner Bros.
“I think it’s awesome,” Cruise told “The Pat McAfee Show” on Tuesday. “You know, here’s the thing. They’re going to deliver 30 movies. 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. I know we’re going to get those 30 movies. 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.”
Cruise added: “Those 30 movies are going to turn into 40 movies. To have that window and what it means — it’s not good enough that I just get to make [‘Days of Thunder 2’]. I see so many talented people that I want them to have that opportunity to make the films that they want.
“Like, you can have these artists, all these greats, they got to cut their teeth and learn in the same way that you get to act, and you’re learning. It’s you take it and the next one and the next one. Every single one of them. The Iñárritus, the Spielbergs, the Nolans, me — all the opportunities that I’ve had, I want that for every writer, every director, every producer, every artist. And the only way you do it is we have to create an abundance. It’s production begets production.”
As TheWrap has previously reported, Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison has assured theater owners and the major theater chains including AMC and Regal that a Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger would commit to 30 films a year for the next three years. The promise ultimately earned the merger support from the theater companies and Cinema United, but the deal continues being held up in court by California AG Rob Bonta’s antitrust lawsuit with 11 other AGs and the WGA.
Efforts to block the merger continue elsewhere with other figures in Hollywood, including Emmy winners Bradley Whitford and Hannah Einbinder, joining Jane Fonda and her Committee for the First Amendment on Tuesday in a video campaign denouncing the deal.
“No matter what Paramount promises,” Einbinder said in the video. “This mega merger – the largest financial transaction in Hollywood history – would cause massive layoffs and cuts to programming.”
