The Tom Cruise / Paramount controversy all makes sense now. I've met Cruise and found him to be a pretty decent fellow who respects others. His movies generated in excess of $3 billion in revenues for Paramount, and his last 2 movies generated a total of $1 billion revenue. It was hard to understand the business case for Paramount's actions, especially the public tone of those actions. It all made sense when I found out that 2 members of the board of directors at Viacom (the parent company to Paramount) are also members of the board of directors of major pharmaceutical companies, Pfizer and Wyeth. The blackbox warnings that are now required for certain drugs have had a negative impact on drug sales, and Tom is credited with helping bring this about. So it just looks like a case of payback, with Paramount caught in the middle. Details are provided here.
I should point out once again that all opinions presented here are my own and do not represent the opinion or policy of my employer.
Bob