Cruise Relaunches United Artists in Venture with MGM

LOS ANGELES, November 2: The classic United Artists film
label is being relaunched by Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner in a deal announced
today with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

The 85-year-old United Artists has been home to such film
franchises as Rocky, Pink
Panther and James Bond. Along with their substantial ownership of United
Artists, Cruise and Wagner will set the company's production slate, from
development to production greenlighting ability, subject to certain parameters,
a statement from MGM said today. Wagner will serve as CEO of United Artists,
overseeing the day to day operations of the studio alongside her producing
partner Cruise, who will star in as well as produce films for United Artists.
He will also be available to appear in film projects for other studios.

Cruise last teamed up with the original UA on Rain Man in 1988. According to a statement issued by MGM,
“The talent-friendly studio will be reborn as a place where producers, writers,
directors and actors can thrive in a creative environment, developing and
producing entertaining film projects. The plan would allow artists throughout
the community to pursue their creative visions outside of the traditional
studio system.”

The new UA will release about four films per year. Worldwide
marketing and distribution will be handled by MGM.

"Partnering with Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner, we have
the ideal creative foundation from which to reintroduce the United Artists
brand," said MGM’s chairman and CEO, Harry Sloan. "Tom and Paula are
the modern versions of the iconic founders of United Artists—Douglas
Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin and D. W. Griffith—and our
partnership with them reaffirms our commitment to providing creative talent
with a comfortable home at United Artists and a dedicated distribution partner
in MGM. United Artists is once again the haven for independent filmmakers and a
vital resource in developing quality filmed entertainment consistent with MGM's
modern studio model."

"Providing Tom and Paula with the ability to greenlight
films under the UA banner validates MGM's commitment to and recognition of
independent producers as the true creative nucleus of Hollywood
filmmaking," said Rick Sands, the COO of MGM. "The relationship between
UA, which will provide the creative environment for independent producers to
nurture content of their own vision and MGM, which will apply its expertise to
distribution and marketing to those projects, is an ideal collaboration of art
and business. The resurgence of United Artists will take us another step closer
to realizing the full revitalization of MGM."

Wagner and Cruise launched Cruise/Wagner Productions as an
independent production company in September 1993. Cruise’s long-time relationship
with Paramount Pictures was severed in August, when Viacom’s executive
chairman, Sumner Redstone, said that the star’s off-screen behavior was “not
acceptable” to the studio.