Tom Cruise ‘Steers Clear’ of Disney Deals Due to ‘Demands for Control’: Has ‘His Own Standards’

An In Touch source raises a flag and offers an explanation for why it’s been decades since Tom Cruise has been involved in a Disney-owned production and why it’s strange that the star has never provided a voice to one of the company’s animated films. Technically, Tom’s last Disney-backed film was the modest hit Cocktail in 1988.

“Tom steers clear of Disney because of his own standards and demands for control of marketing and for a sizable piece of the film’s real profits,” the insider exclusively tells In Touch. “That’s not a deal Disney enters into lightly, if at all, as a company practice, and Tom recognized that during his limited early dealings with the company.”

Given that the company doesn’t meet the Risky Business actor’s demands, the source says, “It’s not a place he pitches and in the rare event that they pitch him a project, it doesn’t work out because Tom needs control and Tom needs real [profit percentage] ‘points’ on the project.”

“It’s why Tom is somewhat limited to the studios he works with – he knows Paramount, Warner Bros. and Universal are very comfortable making his financial deal work, and none of the others really are,” the insider adds.

In January, Tom, 62 made a deal with Warner Bros. and secured a lot at the production company’s site in Burbank, California. It has yet to be announced which films will come out of the deal. That said, Tom’s new connection doesn’t mean his others are in jeopardy.

Despite his deal with Warner Bros., the A-lister is set to star in the upcoming installment of Paramount’s Mission Impossible in 2025.

“I have great respect and admiration for [CEO] David [Zaslav], Pam, Mike, and the entire team at Warner Bros. Discovery and their commitment to movies, movie fans and the theatrical experience,” Tom said in a statement at the time. “I look forward to making great movies together!”

Although the details of his first Warner Bros. film haven’t been disclosed, a second source previously revealed that the cast is “stacked.”

“For once, Tom is playing somebody with more juice than Tom has in his own real life,” the second source exclusively told In Touch in a story published on September 5.

The insider noted that the character embodies “somebody with [the] level of power, wealth and influence” as Elon Musk.

“The script is under lock and key, but what’s shocking is the super-stacked cast Tom and his team have assembled, including getting Sandra Hüller in her biggest English-language role to date,” source No. 2 revealed at the time. “This is a major flex, and it’s shocking because these are the kind of actors who wouldn’t be caught dead in a Mission: Impossible movie and are extremely picky and script-focused when it comes to choosing movies. All of them have been leads in major hits and major successes.”

The Elon Musk theme will also play out in a possible deal that Universal Pictures’ chairman Donna Langley is eyeing. If the project goes through, Tom would film in space, which Edge of Tomorrow director Doug Liman deemed “a dream and a plan.”