Lee Child says he killed Tom Cruise's Reacher movies for the fans
The author's admitting that he was also the one who pulled the plug on the Cruise films in the first place, exercising a contractual veto he'd been given before a third movie in the franchise could be made, and that fan reactions heavily informed the decision.
Alan Ritchson, known for his role as Jack Reacher, claims he ended Tom Cruise's Reacher movie series because fans wanted it that way. Ritchson, who joined the TV version of the franchise in 2022, was a lesser-known actor at the time, while Cruise was already a Hollywood star when he made his first Reacher film in 2012. Lee Child, the author of the Reacher novels, acknowledged that Cruise's movies made him a fortune, but Child decided to kill the franchise due to fan demand.
Child admitted this in a Collider interview related to the latest Reacher book, Chain Reaction. Fans felt betrayed that the movies didn't match the books closely, and Child noted they made more sense on TV. Additionally, streaming was on the rise, which made the books better suited for a TV show than movies. Economically, Cruise's hefty paychecks were not worth the diminishing returns.
Child's decision to let Ritchson cast the TV series paid off, as Reacher has become a massive hit on Prime Video, and his books continue to sell well.
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