Brad's mission, if he chooses to accept it, is to take Tom's job

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Paramount Pictures, the company behind the franchise, ended their long-running partnership with Cruise and is planning to install Pitt in the lead role.

Cruise in the news:

• Becks turns to Tom Cruise for advice

• Katie's cold feet over marrying Cruise

The firm is determined to keep the lucrative series alive after Mission Impossible:III took £212million at the box office, with the previous episode taking £290 million.

An insider told London Lite: "MI:IV will not include Cruise's character, agent Ethan Hunt.

They're considering a brief mention, saying Hunt retired to live a safe life with his new wife.

"They're set on Brad taking over as a gutsy new head operative who puts together his own unique team of specialists."

Sources say Paramount is prepared to do whatever it takes to get Pitt on board, and is even willing to make him the highest-paid movie star in history, with a salary topping £21 million.

Cruise and Paramount ended their 14-year relationship last month, with chairman Sumner Redstone blaming Cruise's controversial behaviour for the split.

"It's nothing to do with his acting ability, he's a terrific actor," Redstone told the Wall Street Journal.

"But we don't think that someone who commits creative suicide and costs the company revenue should be on the lot. As much as we like him personally, we thought it was wrong to renew his deal. His recent conduct has not been acceptable to Paramount."

Sources cite Cruise's bizarre antics - such as the infamous "sofa dance" on the Oprah Winfrey chat show - and his links to the Church Of Scientology as factors in why he and the studio parted company.

They say that with Cruise now off the lot, Pitt - whose production company Plan B is based at Paramount - is clearly the biggest star with a deal at the studio.

Plan B recently won a heated bidding war against Leonardo DiCaprio's production company for Max Brooks' upcoming horror novel, World War Z. "Brad is showing the studio what he's made of," added the source. "Everyone is very impressed.

"Everything's being kept top secret, but they're offering Brad a deal no one could possibly refuse. There's no doubt, this would make Brad Pitt the biggest and highest paid star in the world."