Tom Cruise takes pay-cut for Mission Impossible 4

[HMG] – It’s an old Hollywood maxim that you’re only as good as your last movie. And it seems even Tom Cruise is no longer safe from that rule; His salary for Mission: Impossible 4 has been slashed.

Tom, 48, is believed to have earned over $90-million for his role as both star and producer of the first Mission Impossible movie in 1996, but insiders say Paramount have lost so much confidence in his star power, they have restructured his pay for this film so he won’t see that kind of money until — or unless – the film makes a profit.

The major cause of Paramount’s fears is said to be the abysmal performance of Tom’s latest film, ‘Knight and Day,’ which, despite the radiant presence of Cameron Diaz has only grossed around $74-million in US theaters, and less than $200-million worldwide.

Tom will, however, “get a nice back-end payment” when the movie breaks even, a source close to the film has told Vulture.

Jim Carrey agreed to a similar deal, taking no up-front fee for his 2008 comedy ‘Yes Man,’ with Zooey Deschanel. But he still got well paid — the movie grossed $224-million worldwide, and Jim got over $30-million of that.

But Tom’s problems with ‘M:I 4′ may not be over — the movie is being at least partly financed by David Ellison, son of the founder of the software giant, Oracle. He’s rumored to have supplied around half of the movie’s $135-million budget, and is known to love appearing in movies he funds. But his record is bad.

The 27-year old recently bagged ‘Twilight’ star Taylor Lautner to star in a movie about the life of a pilot. But when Taylor found out that David was not only producing and financing the film, but also planned to be Taylor’s co-star, Lautner walked off the film.

David also produced [and paid for] the airplane-centered 2006 drama, ‘Flyboys’ with James Franco. The film cost him $60-million, but took just $22-million at the movies. Need we say more?

There is no news yet on whether David plans to be on-screen with Tom, but sources say there is no role for him in the script’s current draft. So we should be safe.

The fourth outing for Mission Impossible is due to bow on December 16 next year, and Tom has no less than ten other movies lined up. But will he still be a star by the time MI-4 bows? Let’s hear your opinions…