Why did Tom Cruise stop playing Jack Reacher?

The big picture

• Tom Cruise has starred in two
  Jack Reacher
  film, creating a potential franchise, with the opportunity to make its own action-packed, gutsy series.
• Despite the success of the first film with Christopher McQuarrie,
  Jack Reacher: Never Go Back
  It was a box office disappointment.
• THE
  Jack Reacher
  the character was revitalized with the television series on Prime Video, making the film series no longer relevant.

Despite seemingly being one of the biggest movie stars in the world for over four decades, Tom’s Cruise is not an actor who has stepped foot into franchise cinema all that often. While he has consistently risked his life to play Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible franchising and appeared alongside Paul Newman in the brilliant sequel to Legacy The color of moneyCruise has remained relatively focused on acting in original projects — let’s not talk about that. The Mummy remake. This made it all the more surprising when Cruise signed on to play the title role in the adaptation of Child Lee‘S A shotthe first novel of the Jack Reacher series. Considering the significant number of readers the novels had, Jack Reacher presented the opportunity for Cruise to have his own action-packed, daredevil series.

Jack Reacher It was notable for being the first film in which Cruise starred and which was directed by Christopher McQuarriethe legendary screenwriter who had won an Oscar for writing The Usual SuspectsWhile McQuarrie was no longer behind the camera after the cult classic The Way of the Gunhad worked as a screenwriter on many of Cruise’s projects in the 2000s. The relative success of Jack Reacher assured that Cruise and McQuarrie would remain together for the rest of their respective careers, with the latter hired to direct the next four installments of the Mission: Impossible franchising and worked as a producer and co-writer on Top Gun: The Legend Continues. Although he continues to enjoy success, with his incredible stunt work remaining popular, Cruise has all but given up on acting in films. Jack Reacher franchising.

The “Jack Reacher” franchise crashed and burned

Although the first film was a modest success that surprised many skeptical readers who were concerned about Cruise’s size, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back was a hugely disappointing sequel that sapped any goodwill for the franchise. The first film was a relatively low-key neo-noir thriller that only erupted into moments of spectacle when the narrative called for it. Comparatively, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back chose to introduce every known cliché in the action genre, and it didn’t have the well-choreographed fight scenes that made the first film so good. Director Edward Zwick he is definitely a talented storyteller with classics like Legends of Autumn AND Glory below his belt, but his sensibilities were completely wrong for Jack Reacher: Never Go Back.

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back has received largely negative reviews and underperformed at the box office, meaning that Paramount Pictures wouldn’t be able to drum up much excitement for a third installment in the series, if it ever received the green light. While McQuarrie might have been able to revitalize the franchise if he returned to direct, his work on Mission: Impossible the sequels prevented him from dedicating time to Jack Reacher. Paramount later agreed to develop the Reach television series for Amazon Studios, which served as a reboot set in a completely different continuity. While McQuarrie has hinted that he had ideas for an R-rated threequel that could bring back Cruise, the pair have instead decided to focus their efforts on a new World War II film co-starring Martion Cotillard AND Henry Cavill.

Prime Video’s ‘Reacher’ Made the Movie Franchise Irrelevant

Reach proved to be a huge hit on Prime Video, becoming one of the streaming network’s biggest showssolidifying Alan Ritchson as the most recognizable version of the character. While the films had to condense the very complex source material into two hours, the serialized nature of Reach allowed him to flesh out the narrative more thoroughly. It didn’t hurt that Ritchson’s considerable size and strength were much more in line with the way the character had originally been written by Child in the novels.

Reach is ready to return for a third seasonsuggesting that there is no reason for Cruise to reprise the role again. The initial Jack Reacher The film may have been instrumental in ensuring the franchise came to the attention of the public, but it proved to be little more than a rough draft of what was to come. Reach would later become. Cruise is certainly the action star of a generation, but Ritchson is surely the definitive Reacher.

Jack Reacher is currently streaming on Paramount+ in the US

WATCH ON PARAMOUNT+