Tom Cruise Won't Be Fired. He Quits!

The fact that all those erratic antics finally left a mark on Tom Cruise's professional career has made it into all the headlines. Because, as a matter of fact, this is not just a simple letting-go, this is the end of the most lucrative and money grossing partnership in showbiz.

Sumner Redstone from Paramount Pictures, a company for which Tom worked for almost 14 years, said yesterday that the actor's behavior off-screen was among the many reasons for which they failed to renew his contract. Later, he said that, despite the fact that Tom's movies made more than $6 billion domestically, his latest public stunts have cost the studio many millions they are not willing to lose anymore.

Paula Wagner, Cruise's business partner, hinted yesterday that she and Tom will be starting their own movie company to replace Paramount. The specialists' opinion is that the gifted actor can make money under any circumstances, whether with Paramount backing him up or not. But they also agree that yesterday's sacking was definitely the beginning of the fall of one of the greatest stars that ever lived in Hollywood.

Hurt by all the speculations in the press, Wagner comes to her partner's defense by slapping hard the movie company: 'Whatever remarks Mr. Redstone would make about Tom Cruise personally or as an actor have no bearing on what this business issue is. I don't understand why this would be turned into a personal attack. Because that's what it is. That's letting one of your greatest assets walk out of the door. It looks like bad business to me'.

Nevertheless, to the rest of the world it looks like cutting down expenses or damage control, whichever of the two. But Wagner and Cruise are never to be fired, because they have indeed decided to launch their own production company. That literally means that they quit (Wagner: 'We, in fact, made a decision not to continue our relationship with Paramount Pictures'). Take that, Paramount!