Announced just an hour ago by Mike Fleming - charismatic and intense Brit Idris Elba (The Wire, Luther) has signed on to play modern day super-sleuth psychologist Alex Cross in a new, revitalized screen installment of James Patterson's 9 year dormant crime franchise. I'm guessing the 2010's take on Patterson's predictable formula (once you've read/seen one - you've seen 'em all) will be sexed up a notch or two from the Morgan Freeman days (1997's Kiss The Girls and then the weaker 2001 effort Along Came A Spider) and it's almost a given that Elba will sleep with at least one femme fatale/victim. I'm also guessing he will fire his gun twice as much as Freeman and will be more tortured - cooler certainly, more intense. I mean there is only one Morgan Freeman at the end of the day don't get me wrong - but Elba is no johnny-come-lately journeyman and he's been waiting patiently for a break like this for a while. Patterson's novel Cross is the subject of adaptation here and it follows the titular hero as he 'tracks a serial rapist who may have murdered his pregnant wife years before'. Servicable action helmer David Twohy (Chronicles of Riddick, A Perfect Getaway) will helm next Spring from a script by Kerry Williamson. Interest level in this is around a 7.