The man who made Bruce Campbell a household name and made 2 out of 3 great Spider-man flicks is being courted by Paramount Pictures to renew the Jack Ryan series. Jack Ryan, a CIA analyst character created by Tom Clancy, was made famous by Alec Baldwin and Harrison Ford in the 90’s with “Hunt for the Red October”, “Patriot Games”, and “Clear and Present Danger”.

Unfortunately, the series was then taken and forced like a square peg through the round hole when Ben Affleck took over as Ryan in “Sum of All Fears” where the storyline jumped ship for the opportunity of creating a younger, hip Ryan. It’s safe to say “All Fears” was my least favorite in the bunch. So this news doesn’t bring warm fuzzies to my stomach:

Paramount Pictures is in negotiations with Sam Raimi to spearhead a franchise revival of Jack Ryan, the Tom Clancy-created CIA analyst character who drove four hit movies for the studio.

The intention is to generate several films Raimi would develop and direct, featuring Ryan at a younger, more formative point in his career than previously depicted. One invention the studio is considering is to set the film in the present, with the action triggered by a global threat.

While Clancy is completing another Ryan novel, the studio hasn’t read it and so hasn’t decided if it will use the new book or come up with an original story. Paramount controls rights to the Ryan character, and gets first look at the new novel.

The plot sounds just like the last stinker with Affleck. Worst yet is the fact that Paramount may totally scrap the idea of using Clancy’s new Jack Ryan book in favor of just using the character’s name. I think someone was watching the $$$ grow with the Bourne series and decided to cash in on the fame.

As long as Raimi doesn’t try to write this one like he did with Spider-man 3 it could be better than I’m thinking. Then again, what’s the point of making a Jack Ryan movie that isn’t really Jack Ryan? Oh yeah, $$$.

Source: Variety