Tom Cruise... Halo or Bilbo?

Here's the info from IGN:

When is Tom Cruise taking a trip to New Zealand not just Tom Cruise taking a trip to New Zealand? When he's flying there to meet with Peter Jackson, that's when.

TheOneRing.net points out this article at The Sydney Morning Herald that claims Cruise arrived "at Wellington airport early on Thursday morning, sources have told New Zealand radio station Newstalk ZB. It is not known why he is in the country but it is understood he is meeting Jackson."

The paper says it's unlikely that Cruise is up for any of the projects on Jackson's plate, which includes The Hobbit (which begins filming in NZ early next year), The Dam Busters, or Tintin. But what is certain is that a star of Cruise's stature doesn't fly to the other side of the world to do a meet & greet; a star such as Cruise flies in when there is business to be done.

Most likely Cruise was there on matters related to MGM, the studio behind The Hobbit. Cruise and his producing partner Paula Wagner, along with MGM, forged a deal in 2006 to revamp United Artists. The initial announcement of that deal stated that Cruise and Wagner would drive the rebirth of United Artists as MGM's operating partner. However, as Variety reported last week, "it's hard to discern what [Cruise's official ties to MGM] mean on a practical basis" anymore given that the only successful film they've released since 2006 has been the Cruise starrer Valkyrie.

As TheOneRing.net points out, there's been a running joke for awhile that Cruise's ties to MGM could mean he'd end up playing Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit. While we agree that's unlikely, it's curious that Cruise came to New Zealand the very week that Ian McKellen said the actor he knew was set to play Bilbo would be getting the script. Perhaps Cruise is just there (as the MGM brass) to observe pre-production, read the Hobbit script in a secure location, and give the Bilbo casting his personal blessing.

That said, we can't help but wonder the following: given Cruise's relationship with Jackson's Tintin partner Steven Spielberg -- and Spielberg's rumored interest in Halo, a movie that Jackson had famously tried to make -- could Cruise be looking to make a deal for Halo that might involve all parties? (Ironically, the Halo spec that reportedly piqued Spielberg's interest was penned by the writer of Collateral, which starred Cruise.) MGM has been intent on establishing franchises for a long time now, starting with The Hobbit and the reacquisition of the James Bond series. Might landing Halo be one of their objectives? Given the massive debt MGM is carrying, that would seem unlikely, but stranger things have happened. Halo publisher Microsoft and MGM have other business ties.

Eh, who knows? Maybe Cruise just heard Jackson had a nice timeshare that he could stay at for awhile.