Movie Boss Fuels Mission: Impossible 4 Speculation 5/6/08

Paramount Pictures boss Sumner Redstone has fuelled speculation Tom Cruise is to sign up for Mission: Impossible 4, insisting he would not block the actor's return to the movie franchise.

Redstone, head of Paramount's parent company Viacom, was behind the decision to drop Cruise's production company United Artists from their books, prompting the star to walk away from his 14-year working relationship with the firm in 2006.

Cruise went on to revamp the studio with his production partner Paula Wagner. It was recently reported that Redstone had held talks with Cruise to discuss the actor's possible return to play secret agent Ethan Hunt in a fourth installment in the spy franchise.

And Redstone has confirmed that if the star wants to sign up, he will not stand in his way. He says, "I consider Tom Cruise a great actor and a good friend, and if Paramount decides to go ahead with him, I will not object."