If you were on the Paramount lot over the weekend and saw a figure standing on the Melrose Avenue lot’s iconic water tower, and then asked yourself, “Hey, is that Tom Cruise on the water tower?,” the answer is, why yes, that was Tom Cruise on the water tower.
Sources say Cruise was shooting scenes for a video that will promote the “brand new day” at Paramount, which last summer was acquired by David Ellison and his Skydance media company. It is unclear what other stars or filmmakers will appear in the piece, which is a work in progress, according to sources. Nor is it clear if it is meant to be for internal or external viewing. (April’s CinemaCon, perhaps?)
Jon M. Chu, the director of the recent Wicked movies, is helming the video, which is meant to celebrate the history and legacy of the studio, as well as its future, the topic which has gripped Hollywood for the last several months. Chu is also part of the New Paramount family, having signed a first-look deal with both the movie and television side of the company in December.
A Paramount spokesperson declined to comment.
The video comes as Ellison is remaking Paramount through a flurry of dealmaking. There’s the $110 billion pursuit of Warner Bros. Discovery, of course, but also a slew of talent deals signed under co-chairs Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein, with the likes of Chu, the Duffer Brothers, Will Smith’s Westbrook, James Mangold, Issa Rae and others. He has also courted IP-driven deals and acquisitions, acquiring Bari Weiss’ The Free Press and installing her at CBS News, inking a $7.7 billion deal for UFC rights and signing a deal with Activision to create a Call of Duty film franchise.
Should the WBD deal proceed, Ellison’s empire would extend to DC Comics, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones and a bevy of other franchises, making it a scaled mega player in Hollywood, rivaling only Disney for IP firepower and Disney and Netflix in terms of reach.
Cruise has had a strong association with Paramount dating back decades, thanks in part to Top Gun and Mission: Impossible and movies such as Days of Thunder and The Firm. He and Ellison have worked together for years as Skydance co-financed Top Gun: Maverick as well as the recent Mission: Impossible movies.
The actor decamped from the studio in January 2024 and signed a “strategic partnership” with Warner Bros. The only movie to emerge from that collaboration at this stage is Digger, the new Alejandro G. Inarritu film coming in October. With the impending acquisition, the actor finds himself back in Paramount’s embrace.
Cruise had a busy weekend. On top of Saturday’s shoot, the actor was front and center at Sunday’s Saturn Awards, where he presented his longtime collaborator Christopher McQuarrie with the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films’ Visionary Award. The actor took the moment to say hi to several colleagues, among them Guillermo del Toro, James Cameron and Alex Kurtzman. He also led the standing ovation after George Lucas received a Saturn Award.
