Jack Ryan – Movies and Books


The Hunt for Red October – 1990

The Soviets create a new nuclear submarine that runs silent due to a revolutionary propulsion system. The Russian sub Captain defects. His goal is taking it to the U.S. to prevent the Russians from using the sub to cause nuclear war against the U.S.

Director: John McTiernan
Writers: Tom Clancy (novel), Larry Ferguson (screenplay)
Stars: Sean Connery, Alec Baldwin (Jack Ryan), Scott Glenn

Box Office
Budget:$30,000,000 (estimated)
Opening Weekend USA: $17,161,835, 4 March 1990
Gross USA: $122,012,643
Cumulative Worldwide Gross: $200,512,643

Sean Connery and Alec Baldwin
Book published in 1984

Patriot Games – 1992

Former CIA analyst, Jack Ryan is in England with his family on vacation when he suddenly witnesses an explosion outside Buckingham Palace. It is revealed that some people are trying to abduct a member of the Royal Family but Jack intervenes, killing one of them and capturing the other, and stops the plan in its tracks. Afterwards, he learns that they’re Irish revolutionaries and the two men are brothers. During his court hearing the one that’s still alive vows to get back at Jack but is sentenced and that seems to be the end of it. However, whilst the man is being transported, he is broken out. Jack learns of this but doesn’t think there’s anything to worry about. But, when he is at the Naval Academy someone tries to kill him. He learns that they are also going after his family and so he rushes to find them, safe but having also been the victims of a failed assassination. That’s when Jack decides to rejoin the CIA, and they try to find the man before he makes another attempt.

Director: Phillip Noyce
Writers: Tom Clancy (novel), W. Peter Iliff (screenplay)
Stars: Harrison Ford (Jack Ryan), Sean Bean, Anne Archer

Box Office
Budget:$45,000,000 (estimated)
Opening Weekend USA: $18,511,191, 7 June 1992
Gross USA: $83,351,587
Cumulative Worldwide Gross: $178,051,587

Harrison Ford
Book published in 1987

Clear and Present Danger – 1994

Jack Ryan is back and this time the bad guys are in his own government. When Admiral James Greer becomes sick with cancer, Ryan is appointed acting CIA Deputy Director of Intelligence. Almost before he can draw a breath in his new position, one of the president’s closest friends and his family are murdered in their sleep by what appears to by drug cartels. Ryan is called in to investigate, but unknown to him the CIA has already sent a secret field operative to lead an illegal paramilitary force in Colombia against cartels. Things get even more complicated when his team is set up and he loses an agent in the field and a friend of his wife’s, who was the murdered agent’s secretary, is murdered that same day. Ryan must then risk not only his career, but his life to expose the truth behind the mystery.

Director: Phillip Noyce
Writers: Tom Clancy (novel), Donald E. Stewart (screenplay)
Stars: Harrison Ford (Jack Ryan), Willem Dafoe, Anne Archer

Box Office
Budget:$62,000,000 (estimated)
Opening Weekend USA: $20,348,017, 7 August 1994
Gross USA: $122,187,717
Cumulative Worldwide Gross: $215,887,717

Willem Dafoe and Harrison Ford
Book published in 1989

The Sum of All Fears – 2002

When the President of Russia suddenly dies, a man whose politics are virtually unknown succeeds him. This change in political leaders sparks paranoia amongst American C.I.A. officials, so C.I.A. Director Bill Cabot (Morgan Freeman) recruits young analyst Jack Ryan (Ben Affleck) to supply insight and advice on the situation. Then the unthinkable happens: a nuclear bomb explodes in a U.S. city, and America is quick to blame the Russians.

Director: Phil Alden Robinson
Writers: Tom Clancy (novel), Paul Attanasio (screenplay)
Stars: Ben Affleck (Jack Ryan), Morgan Freeman, Ian Mongrain

Box Office
Budget:$68,000,000 (estimated)
Opening Weekend USA: $31,178,526, 2 June 2002
Gross USA: $118,907,036
Cumulative Worldwide Gross: $193,921,372

Morgan Freeman and Ben Affleck
Book published in 1991

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit – 2014

This new version of the saga of C.I.A. analyst Jack Ryan begins as Jack attends the London School of Economics. 9/11 happens. He subsequently enlists in the Marines, sustaining severe injuries when the chopper deploying him to Afghanistan is shot down. While in intense rehab, he grabs the attention of Harper, a man who works for the C.I.A., and who would like Jack to finish his studies, get a job on Wall Street, and seek out terrorist plots through their financial transactions. Ten years pass. Jack finds anomalies in the accounts of a Russian named Cherevin, and thinks he should go to Russia to check out what’s going on. He’s told not to tell anyone who he is, including his girlfriend Cathy, which makes her doubt him when she catches him in some lies. In Russia, Cherevin assigns someone to assist Jack, but when the two are alone, the man tries to kill Jack instead, so Jack kills him.

Director: Kenneth Branagh
Writers: Adam Cozad, David Koepp
Stars: Chris Pine (Jack Ryan), Kevin Costner, Keira Knightley

Box Office
Budget:$60,000,000 (estimated)
Opening Weekend USA: $15,451,981, 19 January 2014
Gross USA: $50,577,412
Cumulative Worldwide Gross: $135,503,748

Chris Pine and Kevin Costner

Jack Ryan – TV Series – 2018 – 2019

Creators: Carlton Cuse, Graham Roland
Stars: John Krasinski (Jack Ryan), Wendell Pierce, John Hoogenakker

When CIA analyst Jack Ryan stumbles upon a suspicious series of bank transfers his search for answers pulls him from the safety of his desk job and catapults him into a deadly game of cat and mouse throughout Europe and the Middle East, with a rising terrorist figurehead preparing for a massive attack against the US and her allies.

John Krasinski and Wendell Pierce

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