How many Jack Reacher movies are there? 

Alan Ritchson brings Jack Reacher to life on the small screen, but before that, there was a movie franchise that featured one of the biggest stars on the planet.

The first Jack Reacher novel by Lee Child was called ‘Killing Floor,’ and hit shelves in 1997.

That story was turned into Season 1 of Reacher on Prime Video in 2002, with man mountain Alan Ritchson playing the title character.

But between the book and show, Paramount Pictures acquired the rights to the character, and cast Tom Cruise in the title role, in spite of him being quite a few inches shorter than the Jack Reacher described in the books. Here’s how many times he played the former soldier.

How many Jacker Reacher movies are there?

Tom Cruise starred in two movies based on Lee Child’s Jack Reacher books.

In 2012, Cruise took on the role in an action-thriller simply titled Jack Reacher. Instead of starting from the beginning, this movie adapted Child’s 2005 book One Shot. Like the series and the books, this version of Reacher is a drifter. He’s also a highly trained ex-US Army Military Police Corps investigator. 

Usually uncontactable, our hero is called in to help solve a case in Jack Reacher. Traveling to Pittsburgh, he’s told to investigate a military-trained sniper accused of committing a mass shooting. The movie did well at the box office, making over $218 million off the back of a $60 million budget.

Four years later, Cruise returned for Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, based on Child’s 2013 novel of the same name. Here, Reacher returns to Washington D.C. after helping the 110th US Army CID Military Police stop a human trafficking ring.

The movie takes a turn when he learns Major Susan Turner, someone he has been working with, is in trouble. She’s been framed for espionage and they go on the run to find answers and uncover a dark conspiracy. The movie was a success, raking in $162.1 million at the box office against a budget of between $60-96 million. It was also the last Jack Reacher movie Cruise starred in.

Amazon Studios reboots Jack Reacher on Prime Video

Prime Video

In 2019, Amazon Studios announced a streaming adaptation of the Jack Reacher series. This time, Alan Ritchson was in the lead role. Fans immediately praised the actor for perfectly embodying the imposing character Child described in his books.

Speaking to The Hindustan Times, Child said that Cruise was great as Reacher, but ultimately lacked the stature to pull off the role. “Physicality is important to Reacher since he is a huge-looking and scary man, so when he steps into the room, everybody’s a little nervous,” he explained. “And I thought that Alan commanded that much better on the screen.”

Season 3 of Reacher starts on Prime Video on February 20, 2025, when the first three episodes drop. For more on the big guy, here’s how to read the Reacher books in order, details of the novel that Season 3 is based on, and news of a new cast member who is even bigger than Alan Ritchson.