CAPPING his spectacular reversal of fortune from Hollywood cash machine to public relations liability, Tom Cruise was unceremoniously dumped last night by Paramount Pictures after a 14-year business relationship.

Cruise’s production company was reportedly paid up to $10 million (£5.2 million) a year under its deal with the studio.

Sumner Redstone, chairman of Viacom, which owns Paramount, told The Wall Street Journal that the off-screen behaviour of Cruise, who angered many fans with his support of Scientology and criticism of psychiatry, was to blame.

“As much as we like him personally, we thought it was wrong to renew his deal,” Mr Redstone explained. “His recent conduct has not been acceptable to Paramount.”

Representatives acting for Cruise told the WSJ that, far from being dumped by Paramount, the actor had decided to set up an independent operation funded by two Wall Street hedge funds, which they declined to name.

As recently as last month Cruise’s lawyer, Bert Fields — under investigation by the FBI as part of a separate and far-reaching wiretapping scandal involving a crooked private detective — told the Los Angeles Times that the actor’s company was in renegotiations with the studio. “We received an offer and we are digesting it,” he said. “It is not a case that they said this is a take-it-or-leave it offer. ”

Cruise, 44, has made billions of dollars for Paramount over the past two decades with hits including Top Gun, The Firm and Days of Thunder.

Paula Wagner, his producing partner, told the LA Times last month: “Tom Cruise has made more money for Paramount Pictures than any actor in history has made for any single studio.”

However, Cruise saw his last movie, Mission: Impossible III, suffer a disappointing opening weekend box office take of $48 million. This was about $10 million less than the opening take of the previous Mission: Impossible film.

The film was expected to end up grossing about $400 million and a further $200 million from DVD revenue, but Paramount may only break even after Cruise gets his share of the profit, which Hollywood insiders believe could be as much as $80 million.

It was also reported that Cruise had threatened to boycott all promotion of M:i:III if Viacom did not remove a controversial episode of the cult animated TV series South Park from its schedule. The show satirised Scientology and showed Cruise locking himself in a closet with John Travolta and the rapper R. Kelly. Cruise’s representatives denied making any threats.

As well as owning Paramount, Viacom owns the Comedy Central network, on which South Park is broadcast. Isaac Hayes, the singer and fellow Scientologist who voiced the character of Chef on the often scatological cartoon, resigned from the show over his objections to the episode.

The year before the release of M:i:III Cruise had strained his friendship with the director Steven Spielberg by allowing his promotion of Scientology — and his sofa-jumping proclamations of love for the actress Katie Holmes, with whom he recently had a child, Suri — to overshadow his promotion of the film War Of The Worlds.

I'M IN LOVE

At a gala dinner in December 2005 Cruise announced a Scientology programme to “purify” 9/11 firefighters still suffering from the effects of smoke inhalation