In late 2006, with much fanfare, Tom Cruise was announced as headlined a revived United Artists.

But what went wrong?

This article originally appeared onDen of Geek UK.

It looked like Oscar-bait.

It turned out to be a footnote in the failure to resurrect United Artists.

In the decades that followed, the company had a bumpy life, but not without successes.

In the 1950s and 1960s in particular, United Artists scored many successes, winning bags of Oscars too.

It also, presciently, picked up the rights to the James Bond novels.

Not a bad business move.

MGM, too, would soon face its own financing struggles.

Fast forward to 2006, though, and a promising future looked on the horizon.

A break was inevitable, and an opportunity developed.

As such, in November 2006, a deal was announced.

Paula Wagner and Tom Cruise would take on a minority share in the latest iteration of United Artists.

Even from the off, though, response to the new United Artists was mixed.

Some questioned whether Cruise had the box office power to make it work still.

Others wondered if it was a play by Cruise to show he still had clout in Hollywood.

Some, less cynically, suggested he just wanted to make more of the films he wanted to see.

As it happened, a film was already deep into development.

It would be the first picture under the umbrella of it.

But the bigger problem became how to sell it.

Costing roughly $35 million for the negative, the film grossed $63.2 million worldwide.

Hed subsequently shape that into a screenplay for what would become the filmValkyrie.

McQuarrie interested director Bryan Singer, who had brushed against the subject matter with his movieApt Pupil.

Cruise was asked to star, and agreed to do so.

Filming duly began in July 2007.

But in the aftermath ofLions For Lambs disappointing box office, the stakes became a lot higher forValkyrie.

At $75 million, it was a more expensive film for a start.

Not that the constant shifting of release dates helped.Valkyriewas originally set for release in August 2008.

Then it moved to June 2008.

Then it moved to October 2008.

Then it moved to February 2009.

Then it moved back to December 2008.

Contrary to some popular opinion,Valkyriewas a decent commercial success, too.

However, even before the film his cinemas, the new United Artists was crumbling.

For MGMs part, it argued that Wagner wasnt developing aggressively enough.

Bruce Willis had signed to star in the movie, that Oliver Stone would have directed.

But when script problems sprung up, UA couldnt hire writers to fix it.

The talent moved on.

That, too, fell apart.

The UA name would potter on.

Its logo appeared on two further MGM films:Hot Tub Time Machineand the remake ofFame.

Instead, United Artists is now a name without the original company and its ethos behind it.

Its a subsidiary label, and nothing more, for MGM.