Best Halloween Costume Ideas For 2012 – High-Tech, Sexy, Political, Cheap & More
Jay Castillo
Halloween can be one of the funnest things you can do all year, but at the same time it can be quite stressful trying to figure out Halloween costume ideas. Whether you're going to a party, out on the town, to a bar or maybe even a sporting event you want to have a winning Halloween costume idea.
We've pretty much decided there are main categories of interest for Halloween costume plans and we've put them into sections below and given 5 ideas for each section.
SCROLL BELOW THE INFOGRAPHIC FOR TOP COSTUME IDEAS & VIDEO
But before we dig into the specific costumes we'll cover the National Retail Federations survey results for the Top Costumes in 2012 by category.
Let us know if you think we left out a costume idea and leave it in the comments.
National Retail Foundations Top Costumes for kids, adults and pets in 2012.
The infographic is below.
The NRF survey found that while people are going out to stores like Halloween Express, Spirit and Wal-Mart to get their costumes it's becoming increasingly popular to use sites like Pinterest and Facebook. If you are up in arms, jump on Pinterest and start sorting with costume keywords to get ideas of really good costumes with directions on how to make them. Or do what we do, we just use Google Images for the quickest experience and click-through to the website for directions and DIY tricks.
1. For Kids – Princess
1. For Adults – Witch
1. For Pets – Pumpkin
2. For Kids – Batman
2. For Adults – Vampire
2. For Pets – Devil
3. For Kids – Spider-Man
3. For Adults – Pirate
3. For Pets – Hot Dog
4. For Kids – Witch
4. For Adults – Batman Character
4. For Pets – (Dog) in Cat costume
5. For Kids – Disney Princess
5. For Adults – Zombie
5. For Pets – Bee
6. For Kids – Superhero
6. For Adults – Vixen
6. For Pets – Dog Ghost
7. For Kids – Pirate
7. For Adults – Princess
7. For Pets – Super Hero
8. For Kids – Vampire
8. For Adults – Nurse / Ghost (tied up)
8. For Pets – Witch
9. For Kids – Zombie
9. For Adults – Cat
9. For Pets – Bow Ties
10. For Kids – Ghost
10. For Adults – Superman
10. For Pets – Superman
The other section that the National Retail Federation got from their consumer survey was that the following are cultural favorites for 2012: Super Marios Brothers, Political Costumes, Action Heroes, Avengers Characters, Athletes and Star Wars characters.
Source: NRF Retail Costume Survey
Okay, so now we're going to dig and give you costumes by category from scouring the web and finding the best of the best. Find the costume idea category that you want to go as and get your Top 5.
Cheap Halloween Costumes
1. Cheap Instragram Costume – It's culturally significant and you'll look brilliant wearing something that some of the coolest people around are using daily. There are different variations of this costume as either an Instagram picture or the logo itself with most being homemade Halloween costumes. One of the easiest and best we found was in the Houston Press that showed a cut out piece of white card stock paper with a square hole cut out in the center, plastic layer glued down with black spray paint to make it look like a filter. The Instagram logo was printed out and put in the right hand corner. We also found a Glamour Magazine example, a DIY Tutorial Kids Instagram costume breakdown at See Kate Sew and an expensive version of the Instagram costume at Gizmodo with a working camera.
2. Cheap Fifty Shades of Grey Costume – There are a lot of different ways you can put the idea of the most popular book right now on your body. We'll give you a list of some that are all DIY, cheap things you can buy for a 50 Shades of Grey costume and instructions. One of the best DIY Shades of Grey tutorials we found was at Instructables.com showing how to paint 50 square shades of grey on a long sleeve t-shirt and name them funny names. It takes a few bottles of acrylic paint, some bowls for mixing and your imagination. For $20 you can buy a "50 SHADES OF GRAY" Men or Ladies t-shirt off Amazon. Using a home improvement store for free shades of grey, a pair of thrift store grey pants and some needle and thread you can have a pretty sexy skirt that has 50 shades of grey hanging off it like a museum from Lauren Conrad's DIY 50 Shades of Grey.
3. Cheap Leftovers Costume – So you have some dirty dishes and some extra plastics wrap and foil around the house? You can go to your Halloween party as leftovers. Just wrap yourself up in plastic wrap and different sections in foil and then attach with tape, glue and string to your body all of your food containers from all angles. There you go, you're leftovers. As Chicago Now puts it, you can fancy up this costume by labeling the containers with the type of food that is in each. If you really want to go over the top find things that look like human parts, eyeballs and other ghoulish delights in containers. Label your left over food containers brains, fingers, kidneys and more. This is another great option for the person that wants to do a homemade costume at home with cheap stuff laying around.
Source: Planet Dan
4. Static Clean or Dirty Laundry Costume – You choose which one you want to be but the costume essentially takes laundry. You can pin socks and undergarments to your clothes. To really add a touch add a dryer sheet to a few of your locations to really get the point across. If you want to get all the variety of your laundry in there you can put all types of laundry all of your body and then you're just a pile of dirty laundry.
Certainly the static clean costume isn' t the best looking costume out there but it is really cheap since you don't have to buy anything because everyone has dirty laundry, socks and dryer sheets. If you're going for a cheap costume, this one won't even touch the bank account!
5. Wrong Holiday Costume – What better way to celebrate Halloween with a costume that completely embodies an entirely different Holiday. If you have an ugly Christmas sweater, a bunch of St. Patrick's Day green clothes, Valentines day heart decorations, Easter & Bunny rabbit collections or Flags, fireworks and hot dogs for Fourth of July. Whatever "other" Holiday decorations you have around the house you can pile those on your body and be the "Wrong Holiday" costume guy.
Political Halloween Costumes
This year is the Presidential Election year and that brings massive appeal to people dressing up as Barack Obama or Mitt Romney. Just get a mask and add a suit. If you really want to spice it up, get a binder full of women or something to represent Obama. Unscientific calculations like Jay Leno on Monday night said that Obama Halloween Masks are outselling Romney masks by 30%. His follow up to that was, "Well, that makes sense. I mean, what's scarier than four more years of this economy?" Other places however, like Screamers Costumes interviewed by Detroit News says Romney is more popular. Spirit Halloween's Senior Director of Marketing has been giving out stats to news agencies since last week. The latest quote we saw was also in the Detroit News where she said, "Obama is in the lead with 63 percent versus Romney at 37 percent." Spirit Halloween has claimed that their top seller has predicted the president since 1996. Here is a look at what some of those Political Halloween masks look like below, including Michelle Obama:
Video of Jay Leno Talking about Obama Masks Selling 30% more
Overweight Guy Halloween Costumes
Now normally we wouldn't really cover a costume like this but we saw a need. A guy posted on the popular social site, Reddit, "I'm a big guy and I don't know what to wear for a Halloween Party. What's a good costume for fat guys?" So in honor of this guy being so brave, here are some ideas he was given that seem to be the most popular. We'll pick our top 5 out of the list but you can visit the post and see all the ideas if you want!
1. Fat Guy Movie Themed Costumes – The comment post that is winning out of all of the others with the most votes is loaded with idea for overweight men to dress up as for a Halloween Party. They are as follows: Shrek, Haggrid, Chippendale Chris Farley, John Goodman in Oh Brother Where Art Thou, Andre the Giant from Princess Bride, Mobster (Either Boardwalk Empire or Sopranos version) and Jolly Green Giant. This is a great summary idea to go off of and really gives a good starting list.
Source: AJC.com
2. King Henry the 8th – This one even gives a run down of what you might need if you want to pull this epic costume off. It's suggested you'll need to have a green coat, rope belt, tights and a crown.
3. BEFORE weight loss costume – If you're overweight and looking for a really simple costume and are confident in your appearance and weight, make it a joke. This one won lots of votes but might not be too tasteful for the person that has to wear this costume. You just dress up in regular clothes or even a tight fitting shirt or if you're really daring, no shirt and put a sign on yourself that say, "Before." To turn this into a dual costume you can take a better in shape friend and have them look similar and they wear the sign, "AFTER."
4. Santa Costume – So it may just be a little early this year but this one got pretty popular as well. Many people think that if you can pull off a good Santa suit this one will be a hit at a Halloween Party. Some users suggest you use the pickup lines, "So have you been a good girl or a naughty girl this year?" The original person that suggest the Santa Halloween costume says you'll have girls sitting in your lap all night long, so if that's what you're going for, this one seems to be a winner.
5. Leia in a Golden Bikini – This one is literally one of the top winners but I'm not too excited about seeing it implemented. Someone adds in the comments that they feel Jabba the Hut would be more fitting for the overweight man costume and I probably agree. However, if you're looking to be the hit or spectacle of the party a Leia costume might just be the way to go.
Clearly you just can't have Halloween without sexy and adult costume dripping with scintillating curves and designs. From the direction of media news stories this year you'd be convinced that Halloween costumes have gotten more "adult" in nature and are too sexy. But really we feel like they say that every year, so for a moment, let's celebrate the Top 5 Sexy Adult Costumes from different retailers.
First up is Halloween Express adult women costumes that are listed as their top and newest sexy costumes of the year. This year in 2012 it's almost the throwback costume to the 80's and 90's characters done up with flair.
1. Tiger Costume – is a skin tight costume that has a tiger tail & black knee high boots. For those that are a bit animalistic this one might fly.
2. Spider-Girl costume – for those Spider-Man fans.This is a skirt that has some skin tight parts that show off the upper area of the ladies and has all the appropriately themed colors to fit the classic Spiderman Halloween costume.
3. Blue Fuzzy Monster Costume – is a throw back to the Monsters movie and has furry boots that look like Monster feet and a skirt that has all of the colors from the Monsters movie with the top portion going over a ladies head to make it seem as if the Monster is eating her.
4. Masters of the Universe She Ra Costume – this one grabs for the girls that grew up in the 80's or have boyfriends or husbands that were in love with He-Man and the Master of the Universe. Any girl will be a hit at a Halloween Party in 2012 with this costume, just add a sword and you'll be the sexy costume talk of the party.
5. Premium Snow White Costume – You can't leave out Disney out of the top 5 sexy costumes for this store. This costume brings in innocence all while being a little slu**y with a short skirt and a tight top to make any girl bring the sexy back and to any Halloween Party they go to.
The next retailer that is up is Amazon which is sorted the best because their product selection actually lists the Best Selling Sexy costumes in order. The only catch is, we're dropping the costumes that have bad reviews and only picking 4 Star – 5 Star costumes so you end up with the best quality. If you're wanting to sauce up that Halloween Party this week these are good ideas to get you going in the right direction.
1. Women's Nautical Doll Costume – This one has a lot of s*x appeal to it as it shows off the white panty hose, red shoes and a short sailors dress. Don't forget the nautical hat to make sure everyone knows your a sea men supporter. This one has a great star rating and is below $50 to pull off.
2. DC Comics Delux Batgirl Adult Costume – This costume has all the added accessories and flair to make sure everyone knows exactly who you are. You'll have a yellow batwing on your chest and a vibrant yellow belt with a skin tight skirt that has shimmery black fabric with some arm spikes and a mask that top it off. The knee high black boots really add it this Bat Girl costume as well to make sure it's a sexy costume hit this year.
3. Sexy Swashbuckler Set – To be honest this sexy costume just looks like a really well made Pirate Costume which is really the point of this one. It takes a pirate and makes it hot and saucy for any Halloween party, it really shows off the old way that dresses were made with ties and corset like creations.
4. Sexy Wonder Woman Costume – This is apparently one of the biggest hit costumes this year for women. The Wonder Woman costume in 2012 is probably the leading costume across the board with tons of different takes on the entire costume outfit. A lot of red white and blue and a cape to tie it off. Some have red boots with white stripes or just black high heels with thigh high red hose.
5. Batman's Robin Costume – Who wants to see a male sidekick Robin when there can be a sexy woman in a Robin costume sporting great style? This Halloween costume idea sticks to the super hero idea and makes it hot with a skirt, official yellow belt and an R on the chest. Don't forget the eye covers so that you identity is masked away from everyone!
High-Tech Costumes
In 2012 you can really go big with Halloween by going completely high tech. Your costume can incorporate your Smartphone or tablet. There are now websites and businesses built around helping you to integrate your iPad or iPhone, Galaxy SII / SIII and more into your costume to make it have video and interactive screams, sights and sounds. The guy that started it all is apparently a NASA engineer during the day and at night he's creating custom crazy costume ideas to make your Halloween costume the winner of the party. The company is called Digital Dudz and uses your smartphone or tablet with the custom made shirts that help display the awesomeness.
Mark Rober's idea was a big hit last year in 2011 but he's made a twist from his best creation last year. The creation last year was a video hole through his body using to iPads and Facetime to take video from one side and broadcast it to the other side of his body with gruesome blood and guts showing around the corners. The kickback? Most people can't afford two iPad's for their costume, so Mr. Rober made some adjustments. How about using your smartphone and a free digital app called Digital Dudz Mark and some buddies made.
We have to be completely honest, it doesn't seem like you'd have to use one of the custom shirt but literally use the idea of video on repeat and tape it to a shirt with some holes in it. But for the lazy, the loaded and the people that want to support this genius with his high tech costume idea, check out Mark Rober's awesome costume ideas. We're including pictures and a YouTube video he has put out of 20 of his high tech Halloween costumes for 2012.
Here is a graphical description of how a Digital Dudz Halloween T-Shirt Works:
Zombie Guts Digital Dudz Interactive Halloween Shirt:
Obama & Romney Interactive Digital Shirts for Halloween Costumes:
Realistic Human Interactive Eyeball T-Shirt:
Okay, well enough of the pictures. We all love video and Mark Rober does a great job of highlighting all of the interactive Halloween shirts that you can add to your Halloween Party costume ideas this year. You'll get to see how you can change the sound FX for the shirt and ways to use headphones to add a full scary experience. The video is listed below:
Beating iPhone Heart Halloween Costume + 20 More High-Tech Costumes
Digital Dudz are pretty much your key to Halloween party domination… just sayin.
Apple download: http://tinyurl.com/DigitalDudz-Apple
Android download: http://tinyurl.com/DigitalDudz-Android
Get your shirt or iWound before they're all picked over:http://digitaldudz.com/digitaldudz_shirts.php
See reactions to the iWound from Magic of Rahat:
See 7 cool Halloween Decoration ideas using the free Digital Dudz app:
Okay, that wraps up our Halloween Costumes for 2012 this year. We hope you enjoyed a run down of some of the best Halloween costumes that will impress your friends. Like we said, if we totally goofed and missed the best costume ever, just leave a comment a link and we'll include it with this story. Happy Halloween, be safe and eat lots of candy!
Halloween Food Ideas For The Ghoulish, Creative & Rushed
Big Bird Costume and President Masks on Top for Halloween 2012
Paranormal Activity 3 proves it's primetime for Scary Movies as Halloween approaches
Corn maze couple gets lost with baby, calls 911
Related Topics:costumes that are sexyhigh-tech halloween costumesoverweight halloween costumes
Cannibal Cop, Gilberto Valle NYPD Officer Plotted to Eat Women
Hurricane Preparedness has Generators Flying off Shelves with Frankenstorm Approaching
Environmentalist. Consumer Tech Journalist. Science Explorer. And, a dreamer. I've been contributing informative news content since 2010. Follow me on all socials!
Taika Waititi Confirmed To Direct Thor 4
Thor 4 is a go now that Taika Waititi is reported to take the helm as director again.
Thor 4 | Source: ABS-CBN News
After the Marvel Cinematic Universe's glorious end to Phase 3 with Avengers: Infinity War, details have been meek regarding the future of our beloved original Avengers cast. Fortunately, it is recently confirmed that Taika Waititi will be directing and writing the upcoming Thor 4 movie.
For quite a while, since Infinity War, the only thing sure about the original avengers was solely about the upcoming Black Widow movie that is set to be Natasha Romanoff's (played by Scarlett Johansson) origin story. Additionally, the other sequels continuing are no-brainers like Black Panther 2, Doctor Strange 2, and Guardians of the Galaxy 3.
A fourth standalone Thor film was unheard of since MCU has never done it before with Robert Downey Jr.'s and Chris Evans' portrayals of their MCU characters with only three standalone films each. Thor 4 will mark the first time any single character has gone that far. Now, with Waititi confirmed to return to the Thor franchise, fans can start looking forward to seeing Thor back in the big screen.
Significantly, Waititi was the director behind 2017's Thor: Ragnarok, which was a blockbuster hit and saw great success by earning a whopping $854 million worldwide while critics' raves put the movie at 93 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. The move also rejuvenated what had been a rare declining franchise performer for Marvel.
At the time, the two middling outings for the God of Thunder in Kenneth Branagh's Thor and Alan Taylor's Thor: The Dark World did not see the same high earnings as other avengers stand-alone films such as Iron Man and Captain America. It was only during Waititi's take over of the franchise had it delivered the most well-received installment in Thor's solo series.
Furthermore, Waititi was involved more than directing Thor: Ragnarok and even played a character called Korg, who was Thor's companion while being imprisoned in the garbage planet of Sakaar. Fans well-received Korg with his dumb wit and overall humorous character.
It would be a no-brainer to bring Waititi back in the Thor franchise and see Korg again in Thor 4. In other news, the golden hero of Asgaard, Thor, is presumably set to return to the franchise despite him saying in the past that he is done playing the character with the sole exception when there's "another great script that comes along."
How the untitled Thor 4 will pan out is still very much in the dark along with most of the movies slated in the MCU's Phase 4. Particularly, the last time we saw Thor was in Avengers: Endgame, helping his fellow original members of Earth's Mightiest Heroes defeat Thanos once and for all. The film ended with Thor and the Guardians of the Galaxy setting off on a quest to find Gamora, indicating Hemsworth's character may appear in James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Based on how Spider-Man: Far From Home closed the book on Phase 3, we can expect that Thor 4 will pick up after the events of Endgame. According to Screen Rant, "Thor 4 may be ready to hit theaters by 2021, or 2022 at the latest unless Marvel prioritizes other movies first – which is a possibility. It's also unclear whether Thor 4 would take place before or after Guardians 3, depending on how soon after the events of Endgame that movie picks up."
Fans, for now, will have to wait until the weekend during Marvel Studios' 90-minute panel at the San Diego Comic Convention this weekend.
On the other hand, The Holywood Reporter said that with Waititi's upcoming involvement in the Thor 4 movie, his work with Warner Brother's long in development movie, Akira, will have to be pushed back.
Akira is Warner Brother's supposed to be an adaptation from the Japanese Manga, which Waititi was also set to direct. It was penciled for a May 21, 2021 release with Waititi already on a worldwide search for its casting but got eventually delayed due to script-writing difficulties.
Now that Waititi's two projects are brushing too close with another in shooting dates, the director is forced to take priority and Thor 4 will take Waititi's number 1 spot.
Warners' next step for Akira is unclear. Several sources have said that Warners is keen on keeping Waititi involved for the long-term and hopes to see him pick up Akira after Thor 4, THR says.
For 2019, we can expect Fox Searchlight's Jojo Rabbit, from the direction of Waititi, which is a satire about a young boy whose mother houses a Jewish girl to hide her from Nazis. Waititi plays the boy's imaginary friend, Adolf Hitler and is set to release on Oct. 18.
Disney's The Little Mermaid: Musical-Focused With Harry Styles As Prince Eric
Harry Styles in tandem with Halle Bailey is a musical waiting to happen on the big screen
Disney's The Little Mermaid: Musical-Focused With Harry Styles As Prince Eric | Z6Mag
Harry Styles is in early talks of playing the iconic Prince Eric role in the upcoming Disney live-action remake of the 1989 original classic, The Little Mermaid. And people over Twitter could not contain their excitement even though none of this is final as of the moment. Seemingly, Disney is taking on a more musical-centric route for the movie.
Styles is a former member of the world-renowned band One Direction who disbanded a couple of years back to their fans' dismay; but all five members of which struck out to have solo singing careers.
Zayn Malik, who is another of Styles' former band member, performed the latest rendition to Aladin 2019's A Whole New World along with Zhavia.
Quite interestingly for Styles, however, is that he also ventured into the realm of acting with his debut in Dunkirk, Christopher Nolan's World War II drama that grossed over $526 million worldwide and earned several Oscars awards.
The budding actor had been rumored to have been looking for a new acting bit for quite some time now after his success in Dunkirk and even auditioned for the lead in Baz Luhrmann's Elvis biopic. That part went to Austin Butler earlier this week.
Nevertheless, the British singer and actor have captivated his fans through his talented singing career and charismatic acting on the big screen (all on top of his prince charming good looks) that quickly convinced people on Twitter that he would be an excellent Prince Eric.
LMFAO ok if harry styles is cast in a live action of the little mermaid I apologize to everyone in the theater who's going to have to hear me groan every five minutes muttering "he's so hot"
— brandy (@brandaliine) July 16, 2019
GIVE HARRY STYLES THAT DAMN ROLE I DESERVE TO SEE THAT
— rabia (@sincerelyrabia) July 16, 2019
In contrast, in the 1989 original animated movie, Prince Eric voiced then by Christopher Daniel Barnes, didn't have any musical moments. Prince Eric was the man Ariel decided to fall love in first sight with after saving him from drowning.
Furthermore, he was simply Ariel's prince charming who she deliberately bargained her excellent voice and tale with Ursula in exchange for legs to meet and spend time. However, the prince does make a key role in defeating Ursula in the end.
Related: Will Melissa McCarthy Play Ursula In 'The Little Mermaid' Live Re-Make?
Styles' imminent casting for the role says otherwise for how Prince Eric will be seen in the upcoming live-action remake. Primarily, Disney has already announced its cast for Ariel with Halle Bailey, who's a protege of Beyoncé Knowles-Carter as a member of R&B duo Chloe x Halle.
In other words, Disney is seemingly taking a more musical-focused direction with The Little Mermaid soon. Add that to the fact that Disney's favorite musical genius will again lead the musical scores in The Little Mermaid, Alan Menken, who has produced some of the classics such as Be Our Guest, Belle from Beauty and the Beast (1991), A Whole New World, and Friend Like Me from Aladdin (1992).
Recently, Menken collaborated on the remakes live-action songs. Reportedly, he will also give new twists with his songs for The Little Mermaid live-action movie such as Oscar-winning Under the Sea, Part of Your World, and Kiss the Girl.
Also, helping Menken with the songs (and probably new songs) is Lin-Manuel Miranda and La La Land producer Marc Platt.
There is a significant possibility that Prince Eric finally gets to sing in the live remake version and who knows, Menken might probably make new songs to suit the singing Prince Eric-Ariel tandem.
Can't wait to hear the soundtrack for #TheLittleMermaid if @Harry_Styles styles is casted as Prince Eric and confirmed Ariel @HalleBailey it's gonna be amazing pic.twitter.com/eqLp1l9XKk
— princess  (@princesspucker) July 16, 2019
I'm personally not a fan of the Disney remakes but the thought of seeing halle bailey and harry styles together as ariel and eric makes me so fucking excited
— Madisen (@frenchietoth) July 16, 2019
Rob Marshall will be taking the helm of the live-action movie as the director. The director is not new to working with Walt Disney Studios movies as he also directed Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and Into the Woods. Meanwhile, David Magee wrote the latest script for the reboot after Jane Goldman.
The Little Mermaid live-action movie follows after Disney's latest move with other classics such as the recently-released Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Dumbo, and most recently, The Lion King which stars Donald Glover as Simba and Beyoncé as Nala.
A 'Jack Reacher' Series Is Coming To Amazon Prime
News Alert: Tom Cruise will not be Jack Reacher.
Lorey de Guzman
Photo: John Finkelstein | Pexels | Free to use license
Amazon Prime Video is investing in another best-selling novel adaptation. The streaming giant received the rights to the famous Jack Reacher book series after competitive bidding.
**Breaking NEWS!!*
'Scorpion' creator Nick Santora will adapt the best-selling novels by Lee Child for a potentially huge franchise for the tech giant's Prime Video platform.#JackReacher https://t.co/ZdKXEbPpDZ
— Lee Child (@LeeChildReacher) July 15, 2019
Nick Santora of the Scorpion TV series fame will be joining in adapting the novels to a TV series format. Santora will be the showrunner and will be joined by Child, Don Granger, and Christopher McQuarrie as its executive producers.
The novels written by Lee Child has been popular since the late 1990s. Lee Child is a pseudonym created by James Dover Grant, a British author.
The Jack Reacher book series is about a former major in the United States Army who takes odd jobs and offers investigative services. The book series follows Reacher in parts of America and Europe where his adventures and investigations take place. The first novel was the Killing Floor, which debuted last March 1997. The latest book was released in November 2018 titled Past Tense.
Amazon Studios will be collaborating with Skydance Television and Paramount Television. Both production companies have experience in producing Jack Reacher series with two films released in 2012 and 2016.
Talks of moving the adaptation to a streaming service have been shared by Child, himself, since last year. Talking about the future of the Jack Reacher film franchise, Child said, "So what I've decided to do is – there won't be any more movies with Tom Cruise. Instead, we're going to take it to Netflix or something like that."
The novel's first video-format adaptation was made in 2012 starring Tom Cruise under the title Jack Reacher. The movie's plot was based on Child's "One Shot" off of the book series. The film was successful with a gross earning of $5.1 million on its opening day in the US and Canada. Cruise acted alongside Rosamund Pike and Werner Herzog with McQuarrie both directing and writing the screenplay.
In 2016, another stand-alone film was released under the title Jack Reacher: Never Go Back. The story follows Reacher as he rescues his friend, Major Susan Turner, from being wrongly accused of treason. Colbie Smulders joined Cruise as Major Turner after her success in Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Paramount Pictures and Skydance Media produced both films.
Cruise-less Jack Reacher
Though no cast has been shared, one question is will Cruise reprise his role as Reacher in the Amazon-led series?
Despite the film series' success, fans have criticized the films for casting Cruise as Jack Reacher. In the novels, Reacher's height is six feet and five inches; which is a considerable discrepancy from Cruise's height of five feet and seven inches.
Fans of the novels did not think that Cruise was towering enough to embody the buff ex-military man that was Reacher. In 2018, Child finally admitted that Cruise might be too short.
"The idea is that when Reacher walks into a room, you're all a little nervous just for that first minute. And Cruise, for all his talent, didn't have that physicality," Child shared.
Lee Child also called on the fans to share their idea of who could portray the lead of the famous novel series. He said, "And I want all those readers who were upset about Tom Cruise to help me out – participate in choosing the right actor for the TV series. We're rebooting and starting over, and we're going to try and find the perfect guy."
Though the series is moving on from Cruise, Child has acknowledged Cruise's talent in portraying the titular character, and the ease of working with him. "I really enjoyed working with Cruise. He's a really, really nice guy. We had a lot of fun," the world-famous novelist recalls.
Other Amazon Novel-to-Series Adaptations
Amazon is continuously investing in the Novel-to-Series type of adaptation.
Last May, the streaming giant released Good Omens, an adaptation of the novel of the same title written by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. The miniseries gained praise from fans, who clamored for a sequel.
Amazon also adapted Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch novels titled Bosch. It has been the platform's longest-running original TV series.
Another big hit that Amazon worked on is the Jack Ryan series starring John Krasinski. The series is based on Tom Clancy's novels featuring the titular character, a former US Marine and stockbroker who occasionally works for the CIA. The series is praised for its action scenes and likable cast.
Fans speculate that with the addition of Jack Reacher into the Amazon video platform, a collaboration between Reacher and Ryan may be feasible in the future.