In “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One,” a memorial is given to the late media tycoon Sumner Redstone, who owned Paramount Pictures and had a significant influence on the Viacom-CBS conglomerate for more than three decades. The acknowledgment is addressed to “To Sumner Redstone, the film lover, and friend.”
Tom Cruise, the movie’s star and producer, and the rest of the crew wanted to pay tribute as a sign of respect. Shortly after Redstone’s passing in 2020 at the age of 97, the film’s production got underway. Even if the term “film lover” may not be the one most often used to describe Redstone, the movie business had a big impact on his legacy.
Redstone established his reputation by successfully expanding National Amusements into a well-known theater network, then planning a hostile acquisition of Viacom and winning the race for Paramount. He took on the persona of a movie tycoon, keeping a close eye on the success of the films produced by his company and savoring the glitz of the business.
Despite a brief period of tension, Cruise and Redstone were able to work things out. Cruise even made an appearance in a Paramount movie with a character that was partially based on their real-life interactions. Particularly the “Mission: Impossible” franchise has done well for Paramount, with the fourth, fifth, and sixth films grossing hundreds of millions of dollars globally.