From the nota bene of my imaginary Tom Cruise fan club:

The solid, but unspectacular, $110 million domestic gross of The Last Samurai has led a few observers in the New York Times and elsewhere to proclaim the end of the star-driven motion picture, speculating that Samurai might end up only breaking even or losing money while movies like Cheaper by the Dozen showed staying power. The truth? The Last Samurai has just passed the two Mission: Impossible movies to become the highest-grossing motion picture overseas of Tom Cruise's career, with an overseas gross of more than $343 million. Cheaper by the Dozen, by contrast, has made something less than $50 million in foreign markets.

Not sure why I'm blogging this, except that it's something that I would have wanted to know, if I hadn't discovered it myself. (I like Tom Cruise. Besides the fact that he's made a handful of great movies, he's also my favorite role model for those of us who are determined to overreach our inherent limitations by means of hard work and smart choices.)