KORMOON

Tom Cruise may be coming to a theater near you sooner than you think.

Valkyrie, Cruise’s upcoming flick about the real-life failed attempt by high-ranking German officers to assassinate Adolf Hitler, has been screen-tested for regular ol’ moviegoers in Nevada, I’m hearing.

The audiences weren’t aware of what they would be seeing because they had been blindly solicited to attend a free movie at their local multiplex.

In other words, a test screening could be happening in your neighborhood sometime soon (except, of course, if you live in major cities like Los Angeles or New York, where studios rarely test because audiences in those areas tend to be much more critical and not exactly in tune with the all-important Middle America moviegoers).

I’m told most of the audiences were really diggin’ the flick. “They liked it,” a source says. “Most people said it was a suspense thriller.”

As you may have heard, the Bryan Singer-directed flick, which also includes Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy and Tom Wilkinson, has been hit with some bad buzz because its original June 2008 release date has been moved at least three times.

But in the end, the movie will be released Dec. 26, a date traditionally reserved for films believed be good enough to scoop up some awards.

An Industry awards-campaign veteran explains, “Usually, any movie like Valkyrie that’s released at that time, they think they have a shot at an Oscar. It’s hard to tell because of everything surrounding Valkyrie, but Tom could be feeling it will do well during awards season.”

Sarah Palin just might have been bigger than Barack Obama.

More than 37 million watched the surprise vice presidential pick’s speech at last night’s Republican National Convention, Nielsen Media Research said.

Last week, Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama delivered his stadium-sized speech to a TV audience of a Nielsen-tabulated 38.4 million.

But channel for channel, Palin was the bigger draw.

Obama’s speech averaged 3.8 million viewers for each of the 10 broadcast and cable networks counted by Nielsen. Palin’s speech, which was carried live by four fewer networks, averaged 6.2 million.

Taking her Nielsen number as is, Palin, like Obama, was bigger than this past year’s Oscars, the last American Idol finale and every night of the Summer Olympics. And she blew away the ratings put up last week by Democratic V.P. candidate Joe Biden (24 million).

As with Obama, it’s unknown how many watched Palin on the Internet, or on a noncommercial network, such as CSPAN.

In addition to Palin, last night’s 10 p.m. (ET) Republican convention hour featured former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Since scuttling its Monday prime-time show in deference to Hurricane Gustav, the GOP convention, powered by Palin, has averaged 29.4 million viewers.

By comparison, the Democratic convention, which had run a full three days at this same point last week, was averaging 24.1 million going into Obama’s address.

Tonight, the focus moves to Republican presidential hopeful John McCain, who’s due to deliver his own speech, and, in the process, try to put up numbers as big as Obama. And Palin.

Jennifer Aniston was back at work on the set of 30 Rock in NYC last night and this time she was getting physical with the boys rather than dancing all wet with the ladies. She got to shoot scenes with Alec Baldwin (yay) and it looks like things got a little violent with his stunt double during filming. It sounds like she will star on the third episode of the season while Oprah may guest star on number two. Naturally, she looked fabulous — and as usual those arms and that hair are so envy inducing — even playing a psycho stalker.

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Paris Hilton has craftily manipulated the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival in an attempt to gain more publicity for a new documentary about herself.

The hotel heiress forced festival organizers to cancel two of three screenings of “Paris, Not France,” which is set to premiere Tuesday. Even a press screening was canceled.

Most movie mavens assumed Hilton was unhappy with her portrayal in the documentary and had sicced her lawyers on the producers, forcing them to scale back.

But Paris’ rep Jason Moore told Page Six: “We wanted to create more buzz - create some hype . . . We felt the impact would be more extreme if we had one screening.”

Miffed festival programmer Thom Powers told Post movie critic Lou Lumenick: “I wish we could do more, but it’s better than not showing it at all.”

Paris’ manipulation of the annual festival - considered the Cannes of Canada - stands to make more money for the movie when it is released commercially.

“She is a partner with the documentary and will be attending Tuesday’s screening in support of it,” Moore told us.

Asked whether Paris had a financial interest in the flick, Moore replied, “I can’t discuss that.”

The festival’s catalog says “Paris, Not France,” directed by music-video vet Adrian Petty - daughter of rocker Tom Petty - “explores the businesswoman and the human being behind the public persona.”

Petty received major cooperation from the Hilton family, getting full access to Paris and scoring in-depth interviews with her parents, Rick and Kathy Hilton; her sister, Nicky; and other family members.

Donald Trump, Camille Paglia and Michael Musto also weigh in.

It’s a far cry from her last “documentary,” “One Night in Paris,” the hard-core porn tape of herself shot by sleazy former beau Rick Salomon.

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The Canadian network CTV has renewed Flashpoint for a second season and will go back into production in early 2009. Will CBS viewers get to see year two as well?

Flashpoint began as a CTV project that encouraged actors to submit scripts to the network. It was originally conceived as a two-hour movie but was reworked into a series in December 2007. The following month, during the writers strike, CBS purchased the rights to air Flashpoint’s initial 13 episodes in the states.

The series debuted on CBS on July 11th and follows the challenges of the Strategic Response Unit (SRU), an elite group of Canadian police who are assigned extremely dangerous situations. It’s the first Canadian series to air in U.S. primetime since Due South, nearly 10 years ago.

Flashpoint’s premiere attracted 8.1 million viewers; a solid performance considering it aired on a Friday night in the summer monts. Though the following week?s episode dropped to 7.1 million, CBS was encouraged by the numbers. They shifted later episodes to Thursday nights, switching places with ailing Swingtown. For the next five weeks, Flashpoint’s viewership averaged 6.8 million.

Though the show’s performance hasn’t been incredible, it has beaten the competition on a regular basis — both in total viewers and the 18-49 demographic. CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler was enthusiastic about Flashpoint’s viewership and cost to the network. In July, she said, “You know what, it started as a strike aberration, and it’s turned into something terrific. We have a great relationship with CTV and the producers. We’re very pleased with the numbers and are encouraged, and it’s certainly sort of continuing a trend to look at the world in a very different context. There are great formats coming out of different countries as technology improves as far as what foreign content looks like. We’re having a very different dialogue now. It’s a global playground. We get — you know, even writers and directors are bringing product to us from overseas. So I think it’s a really very exciting time as far as exploring all these other opportunities. So it’s a good thing.”

Flashpoint’s been off the air since August 21st and is scheduled to return on September 11th. Now that CTV has renewed the series for a second season, it’s probable that CBS will buy in for year two as well. Depending Flashpoint’s performance in September will likely determine when/if we’ll see season two in the states. Based on the show’s performance to date, a Summer 2009 return seems the likeliest choice.

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When Republican Presidential nominee John McCain announced Sarah Palin as his choice for vice president — a younger, relatively inexperienced woman — the scenario seemed familiar. If you were watching ABC a couple years ago, it should. It’s essentially the backstory of Commander in Chief.

As Chief begins, Republican President Teddy Bridges (Will Lyman) dies of a cerebral aneurysm midway through his term. This leaves his female VP, MacKenzie Allen (Geena Davis), as the leader of the free world. With concerns over McCain’s health and age, is it unrealistic to think that this scenario could be mirrored in the real world?

The comparison isn’t lost on Chief’s creator, Rod Lurie. He’s an Obama reporter and recently attended the Democratic National Convention. Lurie jokingly told The Hollywood Reporter, “I think that Geena and I need to be paid royalties by the Republicans.”

Though the Chief scenario worked for his fictional Republicans, Lurie is critical of their real-world counterparts. “People who understand politics know anything is possible. Picking a woman is an absolute strategic idea from McCain’s point of view. He’s not talking about governing right now. The idea of this woman actually facing down [Vladimir] Putin and negotiating with [Dmitry] Medvedev is idiotic.”