Tom Cruise may have won the first round via back channel politics getting Comedy Central to not air the South Park Episode mocking Scientology, but Trey Parker and Matt Stone look like they will have the last laugh. Not only did Paramount Pictures sever ties with Tom Cruise because of his diminishing box office returns and erratic behavior, but Paramount just signed a 2 picture deal with South Park Creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone.

For the record: while I think Scientology is some silly ass shit, I think Tom Cruise is a great actor and has been in some of my favorite movies off all time: Rain Man, Jerry McGuire, Collateral, The Firm, and the Color of Money. Hell, even Top Gun was a camp classic.  

Below are links: The first one is to the story about Cruise being dropped and the second one is about Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s up coming movie projects with Paramount.

http://money.cnn.com/2006/08/22/news/newsmakers/cruise_paramount/index.htm?section=money_latest

http://filmforce.ign.com/articles/727/727135p1.html