A [Brad] Grey day, or Mission: Screw the Audience

The New York Times is reporting that Paramount Chairman Brad Grey is giving the go-ahead to the $150 million next installment in the Tom Cruise Tries to Convince the World He Really is a Badass, For Real, Ok? series. Meanwhile, Aint It Cool says that Grey has stopped production on what looked to be a budding masterpiece, or at least a damn fine film, Paul Greengrass' Watchmen adaptation. With all the furor over the box-office decline, one would think that studios might have the sense to avoid this sort of staid, star-bloated rehashing. But no, just like Katie Holmes, Paramount audiences are getting fucked for the sake of a little publicity.

Hey studios, let's assign some narcissistic schizophrenic hacks to our other superhero tentpole pics while we're at it! Oh wait....