Fighting for a franchise: Poor box office results mean ‘Jack Reacher’ sequel not likely to happen

Sorry, Lee Child fans, but your favourite airport novel hero Jack Reacher probably won’t be returning to the big screen any time soon.

The former Military Policeman (played by Tom Cruise in “Jack Reacher”) made his big screen debut in the eponymously titled adaptation of Child’s book “One Shot,” but due to a disappointing box office performance, it’s looking less and less likely that Reacher will be back for a sequel.

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According to the Hollywood Reporter, “Jack Reacher” will have to gross somewhere in the neighbourhood of $250 million worldwide to justify a sequel. Having only made about $72 million in the U.S. and Canada since its Dec. 21 release and another $80 million abroad , THR believes the film will have to perform spectacularly well in other foreign markets, particularly Asia, if it hopes to reach that quarter-billion-dollar mark and score a shot at a follow-up. However, with stiff box office competition that includes the Chinese release of “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” industry watchers don’t expect “Reacher” to be able to reach its goal.

Paramount had intended the film to be a new franchise starter for star Tom Cruise, who had previously performed extremely well for the studio in another franchise picture “Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol.” The huge success of that film raised expectations for “Reacher,” but perhaps Paramount should have looked closer at some of Cruise’s other recent work, like “Valkyrie,” “Knight & Day,” and “Rock of Ages,” which all underperformed or outright flopped at the box office. The combination of tired material, an aging star, and a crowded holiday film market evidently doomed “Jack Reacher” to become a true one-shot for the title character.

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“Jack Reacher” isn’t the only recent faulty franchise starter from a major studio. Walt Disney had high hopes for its sci-fi/fantasy pic “John Carter” last year, pouring millions into the production budget and marketing campaign only to have audiences fail to turn out. Though the film fared a little better abroad, the bloated $250 million-plus adventure film grossed a paltry $73 million in North America -- not nearly enough to warrant "John Carter 2." Whatever the reasons were for the failure of "John Carter" and "Jack Reacher," it seems as though titling your film after its main character is a surefire way put audiences off.

While the massively-budgeted “John Carter” is the obvious exception to the rule here, is that really where things stand in Hollywood these days? When a $60 million dollar movie has to make a quarter of a billion dollars (!) in order to justify a sequel, maybe it’s time to re-evaluate that franchise model, Hollywood.