Somebody's feeling confident. With "Alex Cross" currently sitting at a Rotten Tomatoes score of 30% and 35 over at Metacritic, you might think that the attempt to relaunch the character of Alex Cross — played previously by Morgan Freeman in "Kiss The Girls" and "Along Came A Spider" — would be a failure (read our review here). But if Tyler Perry fans have proven anything, it's that they show up regardless of critics, and frankly, so do audiences who have managed to make the ludicriously awful "Taken 2" number one at the box office for two straight weeks. So get ready for more Perry.
Deadline reports that QED International — who put together the $25 million for "Alex Cross" — are making a deal to nab the rights to author James Patterson's "Double Cross," which will serve as the second Alex Cross vehicle for Tyler Perry. Hooray. This time around, instead of hunting one serial killer, he will hunt two. "Double Cross"….get it?!?! Holy shit, if the first tagline for the movie was bad (inspiring our own feature) we can't imagine how bad it will be the second time around. Suggestions welcome. And to help, here's the synopsis of the book from Amazon:
Bestseller Patterson's 13th "Alex Cross" thriller (after 2006's Cross) pits the legendary profiler, now retired from law enforcement and working as a psychiatrist in private practice, against two serial killers. Kyle Craig, Cross's former colleague in the FBI (who was revealed to be the Mastermind, a particularly vicious and resourceful murderer, in 2001's "Violets Are Blue"), has managed to escape from a Colorado maximum-security prison and is steadily working his way through his list of those he holds responsible for his capture and incarceration. Cross, who heads the list, is drawn back into police work by his love interest, Maryland homicide detective Brianna Stone, who's been assigned to the task force focusing on the D.C. Audience Killer (or DCAK), who stages high-profile and sadistic murders to get the most public attention possible. Even newcomers will find themselves turning the pages to see how everything turns out, but significant plot holes and implausibilities make this a far cry from the similar, but far more suspenseful, two-front war waged by Clarice Starling in "The Silence of the Lambs".
That last line pretty much says it all. No word yet on when this might roll. And Perry will be busy, as Variety reported earlier today that he has set up his latest writer/actor/director picture "Single Moms Club" (lord) over at Lionsgate, with plans to start shooting next month. We'd explain what that one is about but it's late, and you can probably figure it out based on the title and past Perry movies. You might think that if "Alex Cross" isn't a blockbuster this weekend then "Double Cross" will be kiboshed, but this is the kind of low budget movie that won't need much to make back its money and will play on cable forever. Unless "Alex Cross" truly tanks hard, expect to be "Double Cross"-ed.