In hindsight, writer Lee Child admitted that Tom Cruise might not have been the ideal choice to play the hulking Jack Reacher in a feature film. Child, who had a cameo appearance in the first Jack Reacher movie, had initially endorsed Cruise in the role. But years later, after the franchise had run its course, he said that the towering Alan Ritchson was, in fact, born to play the character. Ritchson has played Reacher in three seasons of Prime Video’s hit series Reacher, which remains a perennial favorite on streaming charts. However, Cruise’s movies aren’t the pushovers that you’d imagine them to be. Both films have consistently hovered in and around the domestic and global Paramount+ charts all year, with the first installment once again breaking into the top 10 earlier this week.
According to FlixPatrol, the first Jack Reacher has spent nearly 318 days on the domestic Paramount+ charts this year — a massive achievement for a 13-year-old movie. Released in 2012, the film marked Cruise’s first collaboration with Christopher McQuarrie as director. The two had worked on a bunch of projects previously, but none that McQuarrie had helmed. They’d famously go on to collaborate on four Mission: Impossible movies in a row. The latest, Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning, was released to mostly positive reviews but an underwhelming box office response earlier this year. However, their first movie together was a far smaller affair. Produced on a reported budget of $60 million, the first Jack Reacher earned more than $200 million at the worldwide box office.
Lee Child Doesn’t Mince His Words
It opened to positive reviews, especially for McQuarrie’s handling of the action, and Cruise’s reined-in performance. The movie is currently sitting at a 64% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics’ consensus reads, “Jack Reacher is an above-average crime thriller with a smoothly charismatic performance from Tom Cruise.” Cruise returned for a sequel, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, which made around $160 million worldwide against a reported budget of $90 million. Directed by Edward Zwick, Jack Reacher 2 earned poor reviews, and the idea of more sequels was quietly abandoned. Child has only become more vocal about his disapproval of Cruise as the character as the years have gone by, telling Metro some months ago, “I mean, for instance, in one of the Tom Cruise movies, there’s a line where the detective goes to the motel and says, ‘I’m looking for a guy who could kill someone with one punch,’ and they point to Tom Cruise, which is not really all that plausible. Whereas, if you point to Alan [Ritchson], yes, it is plausible.”
You can watch the first Jack Reacher at home, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
Release Date
December 21, 2012
Runtime
2h 10m
