LOS ANGELES - Paramount Pictures has cut its 14-year-old ties to Tom Cruise's production company because of his off-screen behavior, the chairman of the studio's parent company told the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday.

Tom Cruise laughs in Piazza del Popolo on April 24, 2006. [AP]

The remarks by Viacom Inc. Chairman Sumner Redstone signaled the end of one of the most lucrative production deals commanded by an A-list Hollywood star and followed other signs that Cruise's stature had been damaged by his conduct during the past year.

There was no immediate comment on the Journal interview from Cruise's representatives, or from officials at Viacom and Paramount.

Although Cruise recently topped Forbes magazine's annual list of the world's 100 most powerful celebrities, his latest film, "Mission: Impossible III" opened in May to lower-than-expected ticket sales. Days later an opinion poll showed his star power had dimmed considerably in the eyes of the public.

And last month, the Los Angeles Times reported that Paramount Chairman Brad Grey was in talks with representatives for Cruise and his production partner, Paula Wagner, seeking to slash the amount of money the studio pays their movie company, Cruise/Wagner Productions.

Months earlier, Grey was one of several movie industry executives who publicly rallied to Cruise's defense to insist that the actor's status and popularity were undiminished.

They were reacting to a USA Today/Gallup poll in which half of those surveyed registered an "unfavorable" opinion of Cruise. Many cited his off-screen behavior during the past year, including his intense public discussions of his faith in Scientology, and his blunt criticism of psychiatry and actress Brooke Shield's treatment for postpartum depression.

Cruise also became the butt of jokes for his manic, couch-hopping appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" last May to declare his love for actress Katie Holmes, who recently gave birth to Cruise's first biological child, a daughter named Suri.

"As much as we like him personally, we thought it was wrong to renew his deal," Redstone was quoted as saying in the Wall Street Journal report e-mailed to reporters. "His recent conduct has not been acceptable to Paramount."

According to the Journal, representatives for Cruise said his production company, which had been on the Paramount lot since 1992, had decided to set up a new independent operation financed by two top hedge funds, which they declined to name.

Wagner told the newspaper such an arrangement represented a new business model for actors prominent enough to take advantage of investment capital from Wall Street.

"This is a dream of Tom and mine," she said. Wagner also disputed Redstone's suggestion that Cruise's behavior had cost the studio in ticket sales, noting that his movies had made a substantial amount of money for Paramount.

Five Paramount films starring the three-time Oscar nominee and produced by his company during the past decade have grossed more than $2 billion worldwide.

"Mission Impossible: III" grossed $47.7 million in its first three days in North America, well short of the $60 million to $70 million expected by industry watchers.

The film went on to amass $393 million in ticket sales around the world, a tidy sum but far less than his previous release from Paramount, "War of the Worlds," which topped $591 million at the global box office.