Hollywood A-listers like Tom Cruise, Reese Witherspoon and Jim Carrey?s bank balances could take a pounding, after studio bosses have decided to slash their million dollar film fees.
Bosses have decided their super salaries can?t continue when their movies could so easily be a flop.
The decision comes after Tom Cruise?s ?Mission: Impossible 3? took a ?disappointing, knife-edge figure? of $47.7 million in its opening weekend in the US, leading bosses to worry about balancing the books.
An insider at Paramount, who produced the movie, has revealed: ?In this business, the margin between success and failure can be wafer-thin.
?If we?re sitting here six weeks from today and ?M:I 3? has taken $300 million, we?ll be saying that what you need every time is a big star like Tom Cruise.
?If it does $225 million, we?ll be asking, ?Who knows whether the biggest names guarantee success any more?? If it?s taken $150 million to $180 million, we?ll be demanding to know if it was all worth it and the accountants will be tearing their hair out.?
Bosses are also concerned that box office flops like Charlize Theron?s ?Aeon Flux?, Sharon Stone?s ?Basic Instinct 2?, and Harrison Ford?s ?Firewall? are all in the red.
Plus ?Bewitched?, which had a production budget of $85 million and for which Nicole Kidman and Will Ferrell were paid $37 million combined, has taken just $63 million in America.
