Paramount’s Tom Cruise starrer “Jack Reacher” was a bigger hit than most people realized, I think. Made for $60 million (thanks to the lack of CGI, explosions, and what have you), the film turned almost $220 million in worldwide box office. Even if you were to do the “triple the budget” accounting method to check if a movie is a hit, “Jack Reacher” was a hit.

So much so that the studio is said to be “fast-tracking” a sequel, with Cruise once again back as former military policeman Jack Reacher. This time around, Reacher will be heading back into the army — well, sort of. “Jack Reacher 2″, we’re told, will be based on the latest Jack Reacher novel by Lee Child, called “Never Go Back”.

Here’s the official plot of the book:

Former military cop Jack Reacher makes it all the way from snowbound South Dakota to his destination in northeastern Virginia, near Washington, D.C.: the headquarters of his old unit, the 110th MP. The old stone building is the closest thing to a home he ever had. Reacher is there to meet—in person—the new commanding officer, Major Susan Turner, so far just a warm, intriguing voice on the phone. But it isn’t Turner behind the CO’s desk. And Reacher is hit with two pieces of shocking news, one with serious criminal consequences, and one too personal to even think about. When threatened, you can run or fight. Reacher fights, aiming to find Turner and clear his name, barely a step ahead of the army, and the FBI, and the D.C. Metro police, and four unidentified thugs.

I’ve read pretty much all the Jack Reacher books … with the exception of “Never Go Back”. I just never found the time, but it looks like that will now have to change.

Don’t expect Christopher McQuarrie, who wrote and directed the first movie, back for the sequel. Since that movie became a hit, McQuarrie is now a hot commodity, with his choice of projects. He’s already slated to re-team with Cruise in the fifth “Mission Impossible” movie, so he won’t have time to do another Jack Reacher.

Instead, the studio will be looking for a new writer and director, with, perhaps, even fast-tracking “Jack Reacher 2″ before the start of production on “Mission Impossible 5″. Given the lack of special effects and big time action sequences (and as a result, a shorter pre-production period), that’s very much possible. As those who have read the Jack Reacher books know, it’s not about Reacher saving the universe, it’s about him beating up one thug at a time.