What a difference a couple of years can make…

Former Hollywood golden boy Tom Cruise lost his shine when he leapt up and down on Oprah’s sofa and with Mission: Impossible III only breaking even after costs, he may be set to lose a lot more.

TC’s production company, jointly run by business partner Paula Wagner, had a development deal with Paramount Pictures which hoovered up somewhere in the region of $10 million a year but that deal ended last month.

New Paramount head Brad Grey has yet to renew the contract and the LA Times suggests that the offer on the table has dropped by as much as eight million big ones.

Cruise/Wagner’s lawyer Bertram Fields reckons that discussions are far from over and the producers are ready to negotiate with the studio. 

“We received an offer and we are digesting it. We will sit and talk about it. It is not the case that they said this is a take-it-or-leave-it offer. I don't think my friends at Paramount would ever talk that way.”

As far as Paramount are concerned, there is no issue to resolve.

"We have the utmost respect for Tom Cruise and Cruise/Wagner Productions,” studio mouthpiece Janet Hill said. “We are currently in discussions to renew their deal.”

The Los Angeles Times suggests that on a budget of $2 million a year, Tom and Paula would have to find staff wages from their own pockets.

God knows how totalfilm.com would run on only $2 million a year – our Online Ed’s at-desk masseuse would surely get the boot…