Director Christopher McQuarrie’s been busy directing Jack Reacher, adapted from Lee Child’s hit novel One Shot (the movie’s previous title). Paramount appears to be happy with the results, since it's offered McQuarrie a deal to adapt another thriller novel: Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse.
First published in 1993, Without Remorse was optioned early on, but all previous attempts at getting an adaptation off the ground have fallen flat. The problem, it seems, is the novel’s dark tone and violence, with its story of vicious drug lords, murder and revenge; it’s thought that any adaptation would have to find a more Hollywood-friendly, redemptive angle for the story.
The advantage for Paramount, though, is that Without Remorse fits into the same Jack Ryan universe also written by Tom Clancy. Its protagonist is John Kelly, who turns up in various guises in other Jack Ryan books - Willem Dafoe even played a version of the character alongside Harrison Ford’s Ryan in 1994’s Clear And Present Danger.
There’s a possibility, then, that Paramount is planning some sort of interconnecting Tom Clancy franchise here. Kenneth Branagh’s currently working on a rebooted Jack Ryan movie with Chris Pine in the lead role, and if that’s a hit, it’s not improbable that he could star alongside whoever plays the lead in Without Remorse in some sort of cross-over thriller.
With The Avengers proving such a hit for Marvel, you can’t blame other studios for looking at ways of creating similar ensemble movies of their own.
Jack Reacher, meanwhile, comes out in the UK on the 26th December.
Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here. And be our Facebook chum here.