Cruisenfreude - Pop Drop

Tom Cruise's Star Has Dimmed - US Opinion Poll

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Days after Tom Cruise's movie, "Mission: Impossible III," opened to lackluster ticket sales, a new opinion poll may explain why -- the actor's star power has dimmed considerably in the eyes of the public.

According to a USA Today/Gallup poll published on Wednesday, just 35 percent of adults surveyed over the weekend, when the film debuted in theaters, said they had a favorable opinion of Cruise. Fifty-one percent had an unfavorable opinion.

That's a major turnaround from nearly a year ago, when Cruise's previous film, "War of the Worlds," opened and his poll ratings were 58 percent favorable and 31 percent unfavorable.