Valkyrie was supposed to be the big prestige movie that helped Tom Cruise resurrect his career after a string of public embarrassments.
But now it looks like the WII Nazi drama will only be another humiliation to add to Cruise's ever-growing collection.
Early word on the Bryan Singer-directed film, which tells the true story of some German Army conspirators who plotted to assassinate Hitler, is that it's not very good. Of course nothing is coming out of the studio about it, but a hint may have been dropped today when MGM shifted the movie's opening from October '08 to President's Day '09.
This is the second time the film's release has been pushed back; it was first slated to drop June 27, '08.
In his column at FOXNews.com, Roger Friedman suggested that Cruise is fully aware of how bad Valkyrie is, and is trying to cover himself by getting back in the good graces of Paramount boss Sumner Redstone, the man who famously fired him last year.
Friedman thinks Cruise wants to negotiate a new deal before Valkyrie is released, because once people see it and realize it's terrible, he will lose what little leverage he has.
Who knows whether this is valid speculation on Friedman's part or just unfair piling on. It certainly seems, either way, that Cruise's Scientology shenanigans and other wacky behavior have damaged his box office standing irreparably.
Even if Valkyrie were a great film, it's likely audiences would turn their backs on it. Cruise's name has become synonymous with disappointment after the poor showings of Mission: Impossible 3 and last year's didactic Iraq War drama Lions for Lambs.
