Tom Cruise Announces First Film For United Artists/MGM

Okay, this is why MGM let Tom Cruise borrow the United Artists logo for his production shingle. Cruise is not "running a studio" the way some people have put it. He is simply giving MGM the first crack at being in the Tom Cruise business. And that's a very profitable business to be in. The movies he has produced and starred in tend to be very profitable. Virtually all the films he and Paula Wagner have produced that didn't star Cruise have been flops (except "The Others" starring Nicole Kidman). Now Cruise has announced he'll star in "Lions For Lambs" with Robert Redford directing and starring alongside Cruise and Meryl Streep. The storyline sounds a bit pretentious a la "Babel," and it's not exactly "M:I:IV," but MGM should be happy. This is what they were hoping for. And I should hold out hope artistically, since Redford is a terrific director.