Morgan Freeman’s mixed-reviewed psychological thriller, Kiss the Girls, finds new life on Netflix’s global chart 27 years later. Based on James Patterson’s best-selling novel of the same name, the 1997 psychological thriller follows the forensic psychologist Alex Cross who teams up with an escaped kidnap victim to catch the killer known as Casanova who has abducted his niece and many other women. Other than Freeman in the lead role, the cast includes Ashley Judd and Cary Elwes.

Now, 27 years later, Freeman’s psychological thriller has found new life on Netflix. For the week of June 24-30, Kiss the Girls was the third most-watched movie on Netflix’s Global Top 10 with 7.1 million views and 13.7 million hours viewed. However, it finished far behind the new Netflix originals, A Family Affair and Trigger Warning, which both received over 26 million views and finished in the first and second spots for the week.

Kiss The Girls’ Mixed Reviews Explained

& How It Still Spawned A Sequel & A Reboot

Alex Cross, an African-American psychologist and policeman, was a fairly popular character during the 1990s due to the popularity of Patterson’s books. Therefore, his cinematic debut was somewhat anticipated. Though Cross first appeared in Along Came a Spider, the second book, Kiss the Girls, was the one that was adapted first. Overall, Kiss the Girls received mixed reviews, with many critics considering it a clumsy thriller that lacks any real surprises. However, there were some strong performances from Freeman and Judd, along with suspenseful direction from Gary Fleder.

Kiss the Girls has a 34% score on Rotten Tomatoes from the critics. However, despite mixed reviews, the popularity of Alex Cross helped propel the movie into a moderate box office success. It ended up grossing over $60 million globally on a $27 million budget. This was good enough to spawn a sequel, Along Came a Spider, which was released four years later with Freeman reprising his role as Alex Cross. However, numerous key elements from the book were omitted. Despite receiving mixed reviews, like its predecessor, the sequel was a box office success.

The character of Alex Cross continued to have appeal over the years and in 2012, the franchise was rebooted with the movie Alex Cross, an adaptation of the novel Cross, with Tyler Perry taking over the titular role. Another sequel was planned but was canceled after the reboot became a box office bomb, and the character of Alex Cross was largely forgotten in the following years. However, Alex Cross has come back in full force with Kiss the Girls finding new life on Netflix, and Prime Video’s upcoming Cross series starring Aldis Hodge.

Source: Netflix