Sure, Tom Cruise is getting beat up these days. "Oh, no, 'Knight and Day' isn't doing all that well domestically. He sucks!" "Boo, it's not doing that great internationally. Ha, ha."

Now comes this report from Vulture that Cruise is taking a pay cut -- a drastic one, according to the story: He's going to be paid scale in order to get "Mission: Impossible 4."

And to show how little faith Paramount has in his star power, say the spitters, the studio is going to take on a financial partner in the form of Skydance Prods., the company run by David Ellison, son of Oracle founder Larry Ellison.

Now, a studio taking on a financial partner on movies is nothing new. All of the studios do it, especially on tentpoles. In fact, it's more of a novelty when they don't. (The "Harry Potter" movies, for example, are one of the few movies that Warners doesn't share with frequent partners Legendary Pictures or Village Roadshow.)

But don't cry for Cruise.

Paramount sent out a cheeky press release today declaring its intention to make a full-length feature out of the Les Grossman character from "Tropic Thunder." Les has been back in the public eye lately, promoting, producing and performing on the MTV Movie Awards on Sunday night. And while it's a great character, and Cruise is totally committed and hilarious in the role, it's nearly impossible to see this as a feature-length conceit focused on him. Les works in short, infrequent bursts, even though he would suggest that I'm a godd&%n $*#&&-sucking &@#ftin for implying that he couldn't cut it as the lead. Just imagine following Les for a whole movie. How would that not get tired inside of five minutes? I mean, I adore "The Big Lebowski," but there's no way I could sit through 90 minutes of Walter Sobchak. And given all of Cruise's choices, why would he commit to topline a secondary character spinoff from a Ben Stiller comedy? Which is something he hasn't done, by the way, since "Risky Business." (No, I don't consider "Jerry Maguire" foremost a comedy.) It seems like the best approach would be to play in the same satiric sandbox of lampooning Hollywood and merely bring Grossman back in his secondary role. I would like to see Robert Downey Jr. back as Kirk Lazarus. In the face of all this, Paramount and MTV Films have hired the WME-repped Michael Bacall (“Scott Pilgrim vs. the World”) to write the script. Cruise, Stiller and Stuart Cornfeld of Red Hour Films are producing and "have secured the life rights to Grossman." Stiller quotes Grossman as saying he plans to "f**king kill the sh*t out of this movie and make 'Citizen f**king Kane' look like a piece of crap home movie by the time we are done."

The first "Knight and Day" trailer, out in December, was impressive for its unique structure -- Cameron Diaz retelling the movie's mysterious first act as the trailer's action catches up to her in real time. Pretty cool. And the footage was fun and action-oriented enough to showcase Tom Cruise in a way we haven't really seen before: comic action star. Fox has just put out a new full-length trailer, and all I can say is -- BAM! This thing is hot, fast, with cool action, both stars in bathing suits, foreign locales, explosions, a minimum of silly banter... basically it looks like a very cool summer movie from 15-20 years ago but with all the toys and slickness of 2010. Did I mention Diaz in a hot red bikini? There's also a cool new poster that gives the film a paperback novel feel, with the stars in silhouette and a pulpy splash of paint behind them. You have to hand it to Fox. They may have managed to create a killer marketing campaign AND make a good film.

Whoo, boy. The Fox action-comedy "Knight and Day" has a trailer. And it's a surprisingly enjoyable experience watching Tom Cruise step back into likable human terrain. This is how a trailer should be done. It's electric. It introduces the characters effectively, as well as establishes their chemistry. It blows some shit up. And it hints at a plot without talking the thing to death and obliterating any chance at surprise when you finally sit down to see the thing. Not to hammer "The Bounty Hunter" too much, but contrast this trailer with that one and note the vast difference in appeal. Anyway, this trailer does exactly what it's supposed to do and sets up a fun action ride to look forward to next summer.