It’s hard to remember a time when Jack Reacher wasn’t always a 6’3″ man with muscles too big for his t-shirt, but that time was 2012, when Tom Cruise took on the popular character in Jack Reacher, and then again for Jack Reacher: Never Go Back. Apparently, he did go back.
Even though the movie wasn’t as beloved as Alan Ritchson’s Reacher, Cruise’s iteration is gaining some momentum on streaming, right alongside his favorite child, Top Gun: Maverick.
As reported by Collider, both Jack Reacher and Top Gun: Maverick are dominating the Paramount+ charts. Of course, Cruise has no idea, because he’s off doing some complex stunts for one of his other franchises.
When it comes to Jack Reacher, the initial films weren’t as beloved as the now-popular Reacher series on Amazon. Director Edward Zwick doesn’t blame the fans for the poor reviews. Earlier this year, Zwick told Variety: “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, which Tom Cruise and I made in 2016, fizzled at the box office. I blame myself (and my willing accomplice, Don Granger) for thinking the audience might enjoy a mash-up of Jack Reacher and Paper Moon, when in fact they just wanted more red meat,” the director explained.
As for the other much taller Reacher…he will return to screens for season three sometime in 2025.