Alex Cross

Short Answer: recast Alex; next books in the series; maybe shift to TV

So far, there have only been three movies in the Alex Cross series. After Morgan Freeman decided not to come back for the third, Tyler Perry took over the title role and... did not get to have a second movie, himself.

But the books are still good, and still worth turning into movies, and there are still more of them. So many more. More than 30 in the series!

While it may be a bit cliche at this point in movie history, it may be time to say "Alex" is short for Alexa, Alexis, Alexandra, Alexandria... you know, make Alex a woman. 

And then, there are the many more Alex Cross books Patterson wrote, including 8 more that have nursery rhyme-based titles, early in the series.

Sure, you could keep going with theatrically released movies. or you could shift to streaming. Yes, and still continue with 90-120 minute features, or just tighten each case to a 1-hour TV movie, or have a series of "limited series," each with three or four episodes. And market them as "Alex Cross Mysteries."

If you did that, you might be able to work in plot elements from more than one mystery in a given miniseries.

How to choose which books? You can look at the book sales to see which are the most popular, or ask the fans which ones they want to see as movies the most, or see which are the most "cinematic." (Or see which were actually written by James Patterson and not a ghostwriter). 

In any case, I sometimes make the argument that it's OK if there is no more to say about a given character or plotline. But if people are still following Alex Cross for thirty books? Get a clue.