Tom Cruise‘s JACK REACHER, the Christopher McQuarrie directed pic based on the novel “One Shot” by Lee Child, was meant to kick off a new franchise for the actor, who stands as the highest paid of his caliber. The movie didn’t set U.S. audiences on fire, earning just $79 million to date, which isn’t terrible, but not the mark of greatness that some of his other works have garnered, like, say, MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: GHOST PROTOCOL, which brought in $209 million domestically. So, does that mean that JACK REACHER is a flop?
Not by a long shot.
The film was budgeted at $60 million, so that’s already been cleared domestically and it just crossed the $200 million mark worldwide, making it Cruise’s 19th film to achieve that status. With that kind of box office, you can bet that Paramount will be pushing for a sequel (and according to Deadline’s Nikki Finke they’re doing just that). If you look at most franchise’s, the box office gets bigger with sequels, since it usually takes a while to let it sink in via home video, etc. before the audience takes hold.
The prospects are looking good for Cruise to add number 20 to the list with the Joseph Kosinski directed OBLIVION, out April 19, 2013. Beyond that, Cruise has another MISSION:IMPOSSIBLE in the works (with JACK REACHER director McQuarrie), a VAN HELSING reboot at Universal, and his follow-up to OBLIVION, the Doug Liman directed ALL YOU NEED IS KILL.
For my money, Cruise is the most consistent actor working today, followed closely by Leonardo DiCaprio. It’s rare that you can count on someone to deliver a solid film each and every time, even if not their best. Cruise’s worst is something many actors dream of achieving.
Here’s the full list of Cruise’s $200 million club:
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – GHOST PROTOCOL ($694 mil)
WAR OF THE WORLDS ($591 mil)
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE II ($546 mil)
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE ($457 mil)
THE LAST SAMURAI ($456 mil)
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III ($397 mil)
MINORITY REPORT ($358 mil)
RAIN MAN ($354 mil)
TOP GUN ($353 mil)
AUSTION POWERS IN GOLDMEMBER ($296 mil)
JERRY MAGUIRE ($273 mil)
THE FIRM ($270 mil)
KNIGHT & DAY ($261 mil)
A FEW GOOD MEN ($243 mil)
INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE ($223 mil)
COLLATERAL ($217 mil)
JACK REACHER ($203 mil)
VANILLA SKY ($203 mil)
VALKYRIE ($200 mil)