Alex Cross (Finally) Returns to the Big Screen

Whenever I blather on about the death of the mainstream, mid-budget, star-driven thriller, the prime example that comes to mind is the Alex Cross franchise. Paramount used to thrive on said pot-boilers, and two of the more successful entries were adaptations of two books in James Patterson's long-running Alex Cross series. I can't count the number of times my wife has casually asked me why Paramount didn't make more. Aside from whether or not star Morgan Freeman was interested, the best I could figure is that a regime change took hold at Paramount, and the new bosses wanted in on the mega-blockbuster game. After all, why spend $50 million and hope to gross $100 million worldwide, when you could spend $150 million, and hope to God that you made at least $300 million worldwide? Well, it appears that saner heads have prevailed, as psychologist/detective/federal agent/super hero Alex Cross is returning to the big screen. And taking over for Morgan Freeman is Idris Elba, a respected character actor from The Wire, The Office, and several film turns (Daddy's Little Girls, The Losers, 28 Weeks Later, etc) who is about to become a superstar.

Paramount made two films adapted from James Patterson's long-running series, and both were rock-solid hits. In 1997, Morgan Freeman starred with Ashley Judd in Kiss the Girls. The film wasn't as groundbreaking as Seven, and it wasn't as quirky as Copycat, but it was a well-staged, intelligent, and entertaining piece of sleazy pulp fiction. The picture cost around $30 million, opened with $13.5 million, and grossed $60 million in the US. Four years later, Paramount spent $60 million on an adaptation of Along Came A Spider, which was actually the first book to feature Alex Cross. It too was filled with solid character actors (Michael Moriarty, Dylan Baker, Monica Potter), and contained a terrific turn by Michael Wincott as the criminal mastermind Gary Soneji. In the books, Soneji was basically Professor Moriarty to Cross's Sherlock Holmes, with both achieving arch-villain status despite only two appearances in their respective series. It wasn't the smartest picture on the block, but it was great fun and the very definition of a satisfying Saturday night at the movies. Despite opening against the second weekend of Spy Kids, the second Alex Cross film opened with $16.7 million and closed with $74 million in domestic grosses and $105 million worldwide. And then, without fanfare, the series ended.

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