Splash NewsWill Tom Cruise's bitter split hurt him at the box office? Katie isn't making him look good.
—Elijah, San Antonio, Texas
No she is not. If you buy the tabloid reports, Katie Holmes is seeking sole custody of 6-year-old Suri. In other words, this is not the boilerplate "amicable" split you see in Hollywood these days.
But if you think that Katie's alleged bombshell will erode the tens of millions Cruise tends to make at the box office, you're mistaken, son...
Believe it or not, Tom Cruise was once known more as a comedy or rom-com type, thanks to flicks like Jerry Maguire. But he's much more of an action star these days, best known as That Guy Bouncing Off of Skyscrapers in Those Mission: Impossible Flicks.
Cruises's latest jape, Jack Reacher, due out in December, also is a far cry from a chick flick. Check out the trailer, which features Cruise pummeling bad guys and driving in a very purposeful manner, but shows absolutely zero footage of Sarah Jessica Parker in a ball skirt.
And that matters, here, according to box office analysts.
"Given the kick-ass nature of the trailer, Cruise fans, particularly young males, will not care one lick about his divorce situation," predicts Paul Dergarabedian of Hollywood.com's box office division. "They just want to see Cruise driving a fast car, beating the crap out of the bad guys and generally shooting things up—all things that the trailer highlights."
In fact, if Cruise does have trouble making cash at the box office, Holmes will deserve little blame.
"Tom Cruise is more affected by appearing in a film that doesn't have 'M:I' in it," notes Keith Simanton, managing editor of IMDB.com. "Rock of Ages is the perfect example of that."
It's tough to guess how much Jack Reacher might rake in during its opening weekend, but both Dergarabedian and Simanton suppose that the mid- to high $20 millions is not unreasonable.
And it's not all that terrible, either.