If you’re wondering why we still haven’t really seen any marketing at all yet for Tom Cruise’s upcoming film One Shot, based on the book by Lee Childs, it is at least partially because Paramount had yet to decide what they were going to call it. One Shot is actually the ninth book in the series but it is the first one in the movie franchise, which could potentially cause some confusion. Tom Cruise stars as Jack Reacher, a former Military Police officer who has since become a drifter, wandering the U.S. and using his training to help those in need. In order to introduce audiences to the character and to reinforce the name, they have now decided to call the movie Jack Reacher instead.

As Deadline puts it, the title change clearly “indicates that Cruise and the studio look at this as more than a ‘one shot’ deal.” It certainly makes sense, although it does sound a little clunky and boring. Too bad the books didn’t come with pre-branded titles like “The Reacher Identity”. (I suspect that the new Jack Ryan film may come up against a similar problem, if and when it finally moves forward.)

I assume that future films will have a “Jack Reacher:” prefix before the title, in the same vein as The Twilight Saga and The Hunger Games films. However, this is all assuming that the first movie does succeed in spawning a massive movie franchise. It’s still unclear how fans will receive Tom Cruise as the main character, given his lack of physical resemblance. Jack Reacher hits theatres on December 21st. What do you think of the new title?