How Tom Cruise Got His Groove Back

Less than four years ago, Sumner Redstone called Tom Cruise "embarrassing" and refused to renew his Viacom contract; today, Cruise is back on Redstone's good side and set to appear in Mission: Impossible 4. How did it happen? The Wrap takes a look at Cruise's fall and rise:

• March 2004: Cruise replaces his longtime publicist with his Scientologist sister.
• May 2005: Cruise famously jumps all over Oprah Winfrey's couch while expressing his love for Katie Holmes. Later this month, Mission: Impossible 3 is a domestic dud.
• June 2005: Cruise delivers yet another awful interview, this time ranting against prescription drugs and psychiatry on Today.
• November 2005: Cruise's sister resigns. He gets a real publicist.

• August 2006: Redstone says his ex-wife, "like women everywhere, had come to hate" Cruise and severs his studio's production deal with the actor because "he was costing us a lot of money."
• November 2007: Lions for Lambs, Cruise's first MGM/UA project, is slammed by critics but breaks even.
• March 2008: Cruise and Redstone have lunch at Cruise's request and decide to get back in business together.
• August 2008: Cruise's bit part as a fat, bald movie mogul in Tropic Thunder finally gets the actor some good publicity.
• December 2008: Valkyrie, Cruise's second MGM/UA film, gets better reviews and basically doesn't bomb, as many expected.
• February 2010: Cruise is announced for Mission: Impossible 4. Voila! He's back.

(More Tom Cruise stories.)