EXCLUSIVE: Is it just two mates sitting around watching the UEFA Champions League final on a summer Saturday, or is it Tom Cruise & David Beckham opening the gates of Paramount cross-promotion heaven?
We may never truly know the answer to that grand puzzle, but we do know that as Cruise’s Paramount-distributed Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning shatters franchise records in its Memorial Day holiday opening weekend, the four-time Oscar nominee is going to be onscreen with the former England captain and Inter Miami CF co-owner on May 31.
Just a few weeks after celebrating at Beckham’s star-studded 50th birthday party in London, Cruise will join the Man U alum on Paramount+’s Beckham & Friends Live this coming Saturday. A very big get for Beckham’s latest big step in front of the camera, pal and shrewd promoter Cruise will sit with Becks to watch Paris Saint-Germain play Inter Milan in the Champions League final live this Saturday from Munich’s Allianz Arena, I’ve learned.
Put it this way, with Shari Redstone looking to regulatory sign-off on the $8 billion sale of Paramount Global parent company National Amusements to David Ellison’s Skydance, this Saturday is the company’s sports equivalent of putting all your golden eggs in one basket.
With more famous friends also likely on the mainly unscripted deck, Cruise and Beckham will have CBS Sports’ Kate Scott to keep the conversation going, as she has in the two previous Beckham & Friends Live shows. The livestream for the big Champions League match is scheduled to start at 3 p.m. ET on Paramount+. A Beckham- and Cruise-less version of the game between PSG and Inter Milan will air on CBS, as well as Paramount+.
During the Champions League semifinals, Beckham — who does sponsorship and self-branding at the dizzying heights that Cruise relentlessly markets his movies — was paired with Scott as well as director Guy Ritchie and Emmy winner Stanley Tucci on May 6. The result was more stilted than one would expect, or certainly than CBS Sports wanted. Which surely is one reason why things kicked it up for the next show the next day with Scott, James Corden and Handmaid’s Tale alum Joseph Fiennes sitting with Beckham. To keep the patter more punchy, Arsenal legend Thierry Henry also swung by for a bit to watch PSG, one of Beckham’s old clubs, eventually beat the Gunners.
The May 31 final sees favorite PSG hoping to snag their first UCL win, while three-time winner Inter are as close to old hands at this as you can be at the top levels of European football (soccer).
Paramount+ Presents Beckham & Friends Live is produced by CBS Sports’ Pete Radovich with UEFA Champions League, Authentic Brands Group and Relevent Sports.
