Aug 13, 2008
Posted by Kirk in Real Life, Studios | 13 comments
Paula Wagner Leaving United Artists
Paula Wagner, Tom Cruise’s long-time partner, is planning to leave United Artists. According to Variety, Wagner, co-owner and CEO of UA, is in negotiations with MGM to forfeit her post at the studio.
Wagner will likely retain an ownership interest in the studio. It is expected she will leave as soon as post-production on ‘Valkyrie’, the studio’s second film, is completed. Wagner is also a producer on the upcoming ‘Death Race’ being released by Universal next week.
UA never established itself as anything other than a vanity deal for Cruise with Wagner at the helm. It made just two films, both starring Tom — Lions For Lambs, which bombed, and Valkyrie, whose release has been delayed. It had been 2008, then pushed back to February 2009 amid bad buzz, and now is back on for this December 26th.
I’m just hoping Valkyrie does well for Singer’s sake. If it bombs after Superman Returns not being a breakout hit, it could really hurt his career. I never really understood Cruise and Wagner starting UA back up.
the script is promising…and Singer should’ve NEVER left the X-Men franchise.
Well, I think everyone agrees with that.
Insiders have been saying “”This was very hard for Tom. Everyone recognized that Paula has been a disaster. But to his credit, he wanted her to have an exit with honor.” uh-huh.
and if she wasn’t green-lighting movies in time, alot of money is lost….MGM and UA wanted to keep the $500 million financing from Merrill Lynch intact.
Now ‘Valkyrie’ is being moved for a fourth time? MGM better start screening this movie to the main stream critics, mach schnell, so they can get the good word out. The 12.26.08 release date is, of course, for award consideration.
Oh, of course they want an Oscar. As much time and money have been spent on this film, they’d be stupid not to pump it for all the awards consideration they can muster. Of course, that didn’t help All the King’s Men a bit. Lions for Lambs was a big Oscar hopeful that fell short, too.
“sources close to events said the move was made for purely commercial reasons, after a screening of the film went well. The studio sees it as a holiday pic and award consideration was not a factor, they say.” HAHAHA
Wow, the sh** is getting really deep surrounding this story.
Along with ‘Valkyrie,’ we now have two WW2 movies this season….’Defiance’ will give it a little company.
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