Tom Cruise: Killing His Career One Day At A Time!

     He's always smiled a little too wide.  He's always laughed a little too hard.  And that's why we liked him.  But when Tom Cruise acts overly cheery (and entirely arrogant) while talking about his cult religion of scientology, he comes off like a maniac.  The clip above has been spreading around the internet like crazy over the past few days.  Have you seen this video?  Very creepy.

     But I'm not just reporting on a pop culture event- this actually does relate to the box office.  You see, Tom Cruise used to be the biggest box office star alive (now that title belongs to Will Smith), but in the last two years, he has committed career suicide.  Whether jumping on Oprah's couch, professing his love for his Stepford wife, Katie Holmes, lashing out at Matt Lauer about prescription drugs, or raving about Scientology like some kind of lunatic, Tom Cruise has taken every precaution to make sure that he's totally unlikable, and his career is suffering big time.  Take a look at what I mean:

1986-1996

     After his breakout debut in Risky Business in 1983, audiences were hungry for more of this charismatic, up-and-coming actor, and Tom Cruise saw some tremendous box office successes in the years to come and carved out his place on the A-list.  Here are a few examples:

1996  Top Gun - $176 million

1988  Rain Man - $172 million

1992  A Few Good Men - $141 million

1993  The Firm - $158 million

1994  Interview With The Vampire - $105 million

1996  Mission Impossible - $180 million

1996  Jerry Maguire - $153 million

1997-1999

     Tom took a break for a few years, but returned with two films in 1999 in search of some critical acclaim.  The results were pretty good.  Eyes Wide Shut did quite well for such a controversial and risque film, earning $55 million, while Magnolia earned a modest, but strong $22 million.  Cruise even got himself a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor in 2000.  Now that he'd again proved his acting chops, his next step was to conquer the box office once and for all...

2000-2005

     The next seven films Tom Cruise released were massive hits.  Mission: Impossible 2 kicked off the new millennium in a big way with a massive $215 million gross.  Each of his following films broke $100 million dollars, and they solidified him as the single most famous, bankable (highest paid) star in the business.  His consistency was simply unmatched.

2000  Mission: Impossible 2 - $215 million

2001  Vanilla Sky - $100 million

2002  Minority Report - $132 million

2003  The Last Samuari - $111 million

2004  Collateral - $100 million

2005  The War of the Worlds - $234 million

2005-2007

     Unfortunately, in 2005, Tom did a lot more than just release a movie.  He had his whole couch-jumping incident with Oprah, then he fell madly (like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde mad...) in love with Katie Holmes, then he lashed out at Matt Lauer about prescription drugs, and now he has embarked on a crusade for Scientology.  In just two years, his public image has been almost entirely destroyed, and this is reflected in the box office of his latest two films.  

     Mission: Impossible 3, despite pulling in the best reviews of the franchise, struggled at the box office.  It earned just $133 million, which represents a massive 38% slide from M:I2's $215 million gross.  Sure, M:I3 made over $100 million dollars, but this drop was not a good sign.  Long-time partner Paramount quickly dropped Cruise from their studio's payroll.  In 2007, Tom came out with Lions for Lambs, and what do you know?  It bombed.  The United Artists (Cruise's own studio) wide release couldn't even hit $15 million.

2008-

     I have little hope for Tom Cruise saving his career.  Based on the above video, he just seems to keep getting crazier by the day.  United Artists' next release is Valkyrie, which was recently pushed back from its summer release date to October 2008.  I'm highly doubting that it will be successful, and I think I speak for all of us when I say, "Bring the old Tom Cruise back!"