Ledger Pop Journal - Celebrity News & Sports

It's not an official bust for Mission Impossible III for Hollywood star Tom Cruise. But the industry has gone from whispering that his private life may have affected sales of ticket at the North American box office to filing reports.

Who's Buying all the Hollywood's ArcLight Theater Tix?

And now an itemfrom Nikki FinkeatLA Weeklyis noting that there were some very odd ticket buying patterns at Hollywood's ArcLight Theater, which just happens to be located right near the Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre where Cruise belongs.

She reports:

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Was this really a conspiracy buy by the church to boost sales? Here's how Nikki Finke's Deadline Hollywood Daily sees it:

Unconfirmed anecdotes are circulating on the Internet this weekend of individuals buying hundreds of tickets at a time from the ArcLight.

But an ArcLight employee did confirm to me just now that "people have been buying dozens of tickets at a time" for MI3, which is definitely an extraordinary sales pattern for the movie theater (or any theater, for that matter).

Certainly, the "M" word -- for manipulation -- comes to mind. meanwhile, MI3's opening weekend is near-disastrous.

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This would do little to help boost the box office numbers as this film still put up a respectable $48 million over the weekend.

Many industry insiders have long speculated that stars make volume buys - especially on the first night - if they are concerned that a film might not meet expectations. Would Cruise fans at the church try this?

Perhaps they just wanted to see the film.

But once Nikki'sreport hits more sources - expect denials.

--Jill Atkins writes from Hollywood, but didn't even buy one ticket for MI:III