In a move that many folks didn’t see coming, Deadline is reporting that a sequel to Tom Cruise’s 2012 film, Jack Reacher, is being fast-tracked by Paramount Pictures. When the first film came out,it didn’t exactly set the world on fire. Fans and critics alike gave it very middle-of-the-road reviews, and there was a large segment of people who were against the casting of Cruise as the titular character because they thought he was “too small.” The film opened to a little over $15 million on its opening weekend, never reaching #1 during its run. It made a combined worldwide gross of $218,340,595 when all was said and done. But while those numbers, in the era of modern day blockbusters, sound rather unimpressive it’s important to note that unlike most other big studio action films this one only cost $57 million to make. In Paramount’s eyes, that’s a winner.

The film was based on a best-selling novel series by Lee Childs. Earlier this fall, another Reacher book came out, called Never Go Back. It’s being said that Cruise is looking into that book and developing it for the sequel. Deadline summarizes the book like this:

“Reacher heads back to his old military base in Virginia to take a woman to dinner who is now the commanding officer. By the time he gets there, she has been arrested, and Reacher finds himself being charged with pummeling one guy and fathering a child with a woman. He can’t remember either transgression but gets to the bottom of it with cunning and sometimes brute force.“

For now, despite the fact that Paramount is keen to get this done as soon as possible- to strike while the iron is hot- it looks like they’ll have to wait until Cruise finishes Mission: Impossible 5. They hope to get Christopher McQuarrie back in the director’s chair, but nothing has been announced as of yet. If he takes the job, that would mean he’s directed 3 consecutive films starring Cruise- since he landed the M:I 5 gig on the actor/producer’s recommendation after the first Reacher flick.

What do you think about this? Did you see the first? Will a second one bring you to the theater?