2022 saw the release of several hit movies, especially those in the superhero genre: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and The Batman comes to mind. Everything Everywhere All At Once swept records and awards left and right while Top Gun: Maverick brought back a favorite franchise for the fans. The movies performed spectacularly well at the box office and raked in millions, with Top Gun making about $1.4 billion alone.
Paramount Pictures finally lived up to its own lofty standards after almost a decade in 2022. The release of Top Gun: Maverick and The Lost City, among others, did remarkably well for the studio, with Top Gun going on to be the 2nd highest-grosser for the year. The gigantic amounts raked in by the studio on the backs of these movies did not end up pleasing everyone, however, as it seems.
Tom Cruise, Sandra Bullock say Paramount is costing them millions
Cable channel Epix seems to have ruffled quite a few feathers with some industry heavyweights on the back of a deal with Paramount. Movie stars, directors, and producers normally get a healthy cut of the profits from the studio, besides from digital sales and third-party licenses. The deal Epix has with Paramount has allegedly resulted in Paramount getting lesser funds from the cable company, and in turn, lesser money is being paid out to the stars and talent who worked for the movies.
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Hollywood megastars Tom Cruise, who starred in Top Gun, and Sandra Bullock, who starred in The Lost City, were among those peeved at having lost millions of dollars due to the deal. A superhit like Top Gun would have brought in tens of millions, while The Lost City would also have raked in millions of its own. Representatives of the actors have met with the studio to ask for extra money for the same.
What Tom Cruise and Sandra Bullock are facing has happened before too
No lawsuits have been threatened yet, but lawyers are steadily assessing the options at hand for both parties. With the studio also receiving less money, it is tough for the stars’ representatives to press the studio itself hard. Guilds also earn money from these deals, and they have also lost out on potential earnings due to the Epix deal.
This is not entirely new in the industry. Studios have earlier disguised profits by over-estimating costs, much to the chagrin of lawyers and profit participants in the movies. While this might not be the case here, one is reminded of AMC Networks INC. having to pay $200 million to one of the creators of The Walking Dead (2010), while Fox Studio had settled a multimillion-dollar deal with the participants of Bones (2005), all within the last decade.
Source: Live Mint
