“A movie of new faces, inspired insights and genuine laughs” – Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
BURBANK, Calif. — On September 16, in celebration of the 25th Anniversary of Risky Business, Tom Cruise again grabs his air guitar, cranks up Bob Seger’s “Old Time Rock and Roll” and dances his way back into the hearts of millions in the film that launched him into superstardom. Warner Home Video will be releasing two sexy new versions of the Risky Business 25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition. Packaged in a new o-sleeve, the standard definition will sell for $19.97 SRP and the Two-Disc Blu-ray(TM) Hi-Def for $28.99 SRP. Order due date is August 12.

Both versions of the Risky Business 25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition have been restored and remastered with 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio and boast special bonus content including an all-new 25th anniversary retrospective documentary The Dream is Always the Same: The Story of Risky Business in both standard and high definition formats as well as screen tests and the director’s cut of the final scene. An in-depth audio commentary with Tom Cruise, Paul Brickman and Jon Avnet is available on the DVD only. Also available exclusive to the Blu-ray(TM) Hi-Def Edition is a video commentary with Tom Cruise, Paul Brickman and Jon Avnet and a digital copy of the film compatible with iTunes(R) and Windows Media devices(TM) which allows consumers a single non-transferable download of the full-length feature to their PC or iPod.

Risky Business started it all for Cruise who has since been nominated for three Academy Awards(R) and six Golden Globes(R), winning three of the latter (Best Performance by an Actor for Born on the Fourth of July and Jerry Maguire plus Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role for Magnolia). His other memorable starring roles include All the Right Moves, Top Gun, Rain Man, Days of Thunder, A Few Good Men, Interview with the Vampire, the Mission Impossible series, Collateral and War of the Worlds. (Source: Centre Daily Times)

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Will Smith defends his pal Tom Cruise in a new interview with USA Today.

He said the criticism Cruise, 45, has received for his Scientology faith has been “painful for me to see. I’ve met very few people committed to goodness the way Tom is.”

The Hancock star, 39 — who was rumored to have converted to Scientology after speaking out about the controversial religion — was raised Baptist and said he remains Christian.

“We disagree on a lot of things,” added Smith, who attended Nelson Mandella’s 90th birthday in London on Wednesday. “But even with different faiths and different beliefs, at the end of the day, goodness is goodness.”

He said that their friendship thrives on rivalry.

They currently compete to see who can sign autographs longer.

“It’s hard to beat that dude,” Smith said. “He has another gear. He did two-and-a-half hours in France for Mission: Impossible on the red carpet. Now when I go to France, people will say, ‘You know, Tom was out here for two-and-a-half hours.’”

He also opened up about raising his children Willow, 7, and Jaden, 9 (whom he had with wife Jada Pinkett) and son Trey, 15, (from a previous marriage).

“The kids can do anything they want, as long as Daddy thinks it’s funny,” he says. “And artistically, that’s where you need to be, too. You have to find the humor in things.”

The same rule applies to tabloid rumors about his life.

“You have to let that roll off you,” he said. “There’s a natural narcotic my brain must pump, because negativity doesn’t last. It’s strange to play a guy like Hancock, who can’t find something to feel good about. That’s the opposite of who I am.” (Source: US Magazine)

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Noted restaurant destroyed by fire

Kansas City Barbeque known as filming location for ‘Top Gun’

By Greg Gross and Susan Shroder
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITERS

June 27, 2008

SAN DIEGO – A fire that started in an open cooking pit at Kansas City Barbeque yesterday gutted the landmark restaurant, known for its role in the 1986 Tom Cruise movie “Top Gun.”

NANCEE E. LEWIS / Union-Tribune
Kansas City Barbeque bartender Jerry Granquist (above, left) talked to San Diego Fire-Rescue Department spokesman Maurice Luque after the fire was extinguished.

NANCEE E. LEWIS / Union-Tribune
Granquist and cook Charles Ryan watched as firefighters battled the blaze.
“Catch us tomorrow, we’ll have a plan then,” owner Cindy Blair said when asked about rebuilding plans as she surveyed the rubble.

The fire broke out about 2:15 p.m. in the Marina area restaurant on West Market Street, across the street from the Manchester Grand Hyatt hotel towers and near Seaport Village. Towering clouds of smoke could be seen billowing behind Petco Park, where the Padres were playing an afternoon baseball game.

A restaurant cook told firefighters the blaze flared up from inside the cooking pit and spread to the rest of the restaurant’s interior, despite his efforts to put it out.

A force of 45 firefighters with six engine companies and two truck companies, managed to keep the blaze from spreading to an adjoining office building and had the fire knocked down in about 20 minutes.

But there was no saving the restaurant.

“It’s gutted,” said San Diego Fire-Rescue Department spokesman Maurice Luque. “It’s destroyed.”

Martin and Cindy Blair bought the bar in 1983, transforming it to the rib joint that reminded them of their Kansas roots.

The building once housed a bail bond business, until a motorcycle mechanic bought it in the 1950s and opened Club 153, a rowdy bar catering to cops from the then-nearby San Diego police headquarters.

When the Republican Party held its national convention in San Diego in 1996, the Blairs got a box of dirt from candidate Bob Dole’s boyhood hometown of Russell, Kan., compliments of that town’s mayor. The idea was, if Dole stopped in for a bite, he could stand on his own home turf.

The restaurant’s ban on neckties didn’t deter Republican conventioneers. Manager/bartender Jerry Granquist was quoted as saying they were dropping $100 tips at happy hour.

The restaurant, which serves barbecue fare such as ribs and chicken, was used for a bar scene in “Top Gun,” where Cruise crooned to love interest Kelly McGillis. A sign in the restaurant noted that the jet jockey movie’s “sleazy bar scene” was filmed there.

Luque estimated damage at $250,000 to the structure and $150,000 to the contents, not including the value of decades worth of memorabilia, including photographs and props from the film. Hundreds of Navy caps and license plates hung on walls and ceilings.

Firefighters found Navy flight helmets inside the dining area – melted.

“It must’ve been a very intense fire,” Luque said. “You can see where the fire swirled around, then just took everything out.”

No one was injured. The only people inside at the time were five employees, including the cook. A few patrons were sitting on the patio outside; they quickly fled as the flames ravaged the interior.

Another cook, Charles Ryan, 53, was taking a break outside when he saw the smoke billowing out the front door. But he wasn’t alarmed – yet.

“I’ve seen pit fires before. They’re manageable,” said Ryan, who has worked at the restaurant for about six years. “Normally, you can put these things out; I’ve had a few of them myself. There’s a hose right next to the pit.”

This time, however, the fire couldn’t be contained. In the seconds it took Ryan to re-enter the establishment, “the whole kitchen was on fire and it was spreading out into the dining area,” he said.

Sandra Angelo, a magazine columnist and author, lives across the street from the restaurant on the 12th floor of City Front Terrace, a condominium complex.

She said her unit has a 280-degree view of downtown and San Diego Bay, and she saw smoke coming out of the chimney in the middle of the restaurant. She said it then got a little thicker, and “I just thought they were being a little enthusiastic with their barbecuing.”

But within minutes, she said, the smoke became very thick.

“It was just tons and tons of smoke,” she said, “billowing out of every single window” and was as high as a nearby 40-story building.

Railroad tracks used by the San Diego Trolley and the Coaster commuter train run right behind the restaurant. Had there been a freight train going by, it would have taken firefighters an extra 12 to 15 minutes to put out the blaze, Luque said.

Rob Schupp, a spokesman for Metropolitan Transit District, said trolley service in the area was stopped for about 10 minutes while fire hoses were across the tracks.

Staff writer Pauline Repard contributed to this report. (Source: Sign On San Diego)

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APPLE VALLEY — Stars, crews and sets for the Tom Cruise World War II drama “Valkyrie” have been spotted across the Victor Valley this week.

“Tom Cruise came in and out of here almost every day,” said Terry Stover, manager of the Apple Valley Airport.

Stover said Cruise was flown in on a King Air plane, would walk down the ramp and directly onto a helicopter waiting to take him to filming in Lucerne Valley.

Residents have reported seeing tanks on the dry lake bed near Lucerne Valley High School. The area is allegedly being used to recreate Germany’s North African campaign for Cruise’s film, tracing the true story of high-ranking German officers who tried to assassinate Adolf Hitler during the height of World War II, according to the Internet Movie Database.

The Apple Valley Airport also played host to P-40 fighter planes used in the filming for several days over the last week. Stover said one was flown by John Hinton, with Planes of Fame in Chino. Stover said both the pilots and their planes refueled at the airport between filming.

Because of the aircraft involved, a temporary flight restriction was issued for a 1.5-mile radius around Lucerne, from ground level up to 3,700 feet.
“The reason for the flight restriction was to avoid any potential hazards between aircraft used in filming the movie and any other aircraft, including aircraft hired by the paparazzi,” said Ian Gregor, spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration.

Gregor said the restriction was also to prevent damage to passing aircraft from ground effects such as pyrotechnics used during filming.

Dick Pearson, former Apple Valley councilman and a retired Air Force fighter pilot, was surprised to see the restriction. He said the last time he saw one locally was during the Big Bear fire last year, to prevent planes from interfering with firefighting aircraft. (Source: Daily Press)

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With Harrison Ford dusting off his fedora in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and taking in $150 million over the last four days, is there any chance he can reclaim his rightful place as Hollywood’s all-time biggest star?

Not even close, if you’re basing stardom on all-time total movie box office grosses, the traditional industry barometer for such things. Excluding voice roles, the biggest star in the world is Samuel L. Jackson with more than $4 billion in U.S. grosses and nearly $8 billion worldwide, earning the actor a page in the Guinness Book Of World Records. To overtake Jackson, Harrison Ford, who currently resides in fourth place, would need Indiana Jones to pull in $951.2 million domestically. (As Short Round might say, “Very funny, Dr. Jones! Very funny!”)

But ranking stars on total box office is woefully inadequate in determining a star’s true bankability. For one thing, it over rewards an actor like Samuel L. Jackson for appearing in 42 percent of the movies produced since 1985. (An overstatement, but not by much: Jackson has made roughly 80 movies over the last 20 years, an average of four a year.) “In general, this chart heavily favors people who have appeared in one or two high-grossing movie series,” says Bruce Nash, founder of the box-office stats site The Numbers. This is why Orlando Bloom tops the list for average box office gross, thanks to his appearance in the Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean franchises. His other movies? Crap like Elizabethtown and The Kingdom of Heaven.

To help us devise a more accurate metric for determining a star’s true value, Nash created a brand-new stat, Box Office Power, which is based on a points system. To qualify for the chart, an actor or actress must have appeared in more than ten movies with a wide release, appearing in more than 1,000 theaters, in the United States. The scoring works as follows:

+3 points for each leading role in a wide release that is either a stand-alone movie or the first movie in a franchise, and that earns over $100 million at the box office.
+2 points for each leading role in a wide release that is the second, third, fourth, etc., movie in a franchise, and which earns over $100 million at the box office.
+1 point for each supporting role in a wide release (of any sort) that earns more than $100 million at the box office.
-1 point for each leading or supporting role in a wide release that earns less than $100 million at the box office.

So what do we find when we crunch the numbers? The all-time top star is Tom Cruise with a total score of 27. “What this says is that Tom Cruise has consistently delivered hits while appearing in a wide variety of movies,” said Nash. “Love him or hate him, he has a strong claim to being the most bankable star over the past twenty years.” While there’s no way to know if he will continue to be the most bankable star for the next thirty, what’s clear is that contrary to all the negative press (e.g., couch-jumping, attempts to be “down” with Kanye West, Scientology…) Cruise is still the safest bet in Hollywood. (…)

Source: Esquire, May 27, 2008.

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The American Film Institute honored 100 films in its latest best-of list.

The AFI unleashed yet another one of its AFI’s 100 Years… TV specials, this time running down the top 10 American films from 10 genres.

Having already run through 100 Laughs, 100 Thrills and 100 Passions at annual intervals for a deade, the countdown-happy AFI folks have decided to give us not one, but 10 lists in 2008—ticking off their picks for in the realms of animation, fantasy, sci-fi, gangster, sports, western, romantic comedy, courtroom drama, mystery and epic.

The AFI send out ballots with 500 nominated movies—50 for each genre—to over 1,500 filmmakers, actors, screenwriters, editors, cinematographers, critics and historians who will then judge which ones made AFI’s 10 Top 10.

AFI’s 10 Top 10, the list of lists, actually, was revealed in a CBS special Tuesday. The three-hour program was the least-watched show of the night on the big four networks, averaging an estimated 5.5 million viewers, per Nielsen Media Research.

In all, the AFI has now issued 13 best-of lists since 1998, when it unveiled its picks for the 100 top U.S. movies of the 20th century.

Two of Tom’s movies scored in the categories ‘Sports’ and ‘Courtroom drama’:

SPORTS

1. Raging Bull, 1980
2. Rocky, 1976
3. The Pride of the Yankees, 1942
4. Hoosiers, 1986
5. Bull Durham, 1988
6. The Hustler, 1961
7. Caddyshack, 1980
8. Breaking Away, 1979
9. National Velvet, 1944
10. Jerry Maguire, 1996

COURTROOM DRAMA

1. To Kill a Mockingbird, 1962
2. 12 Angry Men, 1957
3. Kramer vs. Kramer, 1979
4. The Verdict, 1982
5. A Few Good Men, 1992
6. Witness for the Prosecution, 1957
7. Anatomy of a Murder, 1959
8. In Cold Blood, 1967
9. A Cry in the Dark, 1988
10. Judgment at Nuremberg, 1961

For the complete list, visit E! Online and ‘AFI goes 10 to 10‘.

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Hey there,

We still have to wait a little longer to watch Tom’s new movie ‘Valkyrie’, but if you haven’t seen it already, United Artists has a nice ‘on set’ video. Go watch it here.

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Variety editor-in-chief Peter Bart says on his Blog that Tom Cruise is going back to shoot three more scenes for director Bryan Singer’s Valkyrie. Spoiler ahead:

Although the film has yet to be completed, several people I trust have seen “Valkyrie” and testify that it’s a superb thriller. “Bryan Singer is back in form,” says one source, referring to the “Valkyrie” director whose last film was “Superman Returns.”

Cruise will be shooting three scenes in North Africa within the next three weeks. In one, his character, Col. Claus Von Stauffenberg, is badly injured but survives, a key moment in the film’s first act.

Valkyrie is scheduled for a release on February 13, 2009. (Source: Coming Soon)

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Now that they’ve gotten the star-studded housewarming party at their new Beverly Hills estate out of the way, are Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes also planning on taking up residence in the Big Apple?

Well, Katie has been busy preparing to make her debut on the Great White Way this fall in Arthur Miller’s All My Sons. And the play’s producer, Eric Falkenstein, tells the New York Post, “She and Tom are committed to keeping the family together, so they have to get an apartment here.” (Source: E! Online)

Pictures added:

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Cruise shows off his toys

Tom Cruise proved he was still a Top Gun when he showed off a collection of vintage planes to celebrity pals.
Movie star Ben Stiller and director Steven Spielberg, along with other friends and family, joined the 45-year-old actor at a private LA airport on Saturday.

A string of guests took to the skies in the five different aircraft, each of which had its own pilot.

Eventually Cruise himself donned a helmet and, accompanied by a flight instructor, took his P51 Mustang plane ‘Kiss Me Kate’ for a 40-minute spin.

The group arrived at Burbank airport on Sunday afternoon and came face to face with the aircraft, which dated back to the Second World War.

Stiller and Spielberg stood chatting while other guests were invited to fly as passengers on the planes.

“Everyone was clearly enjoying themselves,” one eyewitness said.

“Ben was cracking jokes and laughing with Tom and Steven.

“But it was definitely Tom who was playing host. He made sure everybody was taken care of and had a good time.”

Cruise, who rose to stardom as pilot Maverick in cult movie Top Gun, even helped his own mother onto the wing of one plane, so she could take a flight.

Mary Cruise laughed and held onto the pilot as she stepped into the aircraft’s cockpit.

After around two hours of flights, the guests departed, leaving Cruise to take his P51 Mustang for a 40-minute flight.

The Lions For Lambs star waved to onlookers as he climbed onto the wing, strapped on a helmet and took control of the plane.

He eventually landed Kiss Me Kate, parked it in an airport hanger and was driven off in a limousine. (Yahoo!)

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