Tom Cruise Has Found His Next Franchise

Even big stars need franchises. It's one thing to be a marquee name in your own right, but if you hitch your wagon to a property everybody knows, it'll only help boost your box office. And if you're a fading star, it's even more important. Take Tom Cruise: Two of his three biggest domestic hits were "Mission: Impossible" movies, so it's not surprising that he's making another one of those. Now he's signed up to what could be another lucrative franchise ... just so long as fans of the original books can stop snickering.

After discussing it as a possibility last month, Deadline has confirmed that Cruise will star in "One Shot," which is based on one of the Jack Reacher novels by British thriller writer Lee Child. "One Shot" is actually the ninth book in the Reacher series, and he's actually got a pretty detailed backstory by this point. In a nutshell, Reacher is a former military policeman who now wanders across America like a nomad solving crimes. And he's freakin' huge, which is where, as Deadline mentions, the problem comes in for Cruise:

[T]he Reacher character is 6'5" and about 250 pounds, and Cruise is not. ... [T]he author was among those most excited about the casting, saying that "Reacher's size in the books is a metaphor for an unstoppable force, which Cruise portrays in his own way."

Because, really, what else is Child supposed to say? "A very tiny man is going to play my big, beefy character in a movie? Wait, how much money are you giving me again? Oh, I think it's a great idea!"

To be fair, though, if "One Shot," which will be directed by Oscar-winning screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie ("The Usual Suspects"), is a success, very few people will care how big the dude was in the books. As for what "One Shot" is about, Deadline describes the plot as "Reacher investigates a case in which a lone sniper murders five victims before being captured," discovering in the process that "it's more than a simple open-and-shut case." If the film's a hit, Cruise may be doing a lot more such cases. And if it tanks, Cruise still has the new "M:I" film and "Oblivion," so don't worry about him just yet: He's in a bit of a slump, but he won't have to start wandering around America like a drifter just yet.

Tom Cruise Locked To Play Jack Reacher In 'One Shot' For Paramount And Skydance [Deadline]