By skyforbes Mr T in 1990, or let's say 88-89 for production, had his hit show T and T, he had just done Wrestlemania a few years ago, and reruns of his cartoon and The A-Team were running wild. Both of which you could enjoy with a big bowl of Mr T's own brand of cereal. So star power was certainly something he had abundance of, and he was at that point a household name.
Now I'm not saying Danny Glover wasn't a name himself. He had a couple of lethal weapons under his belt. But let's be honest… Mr T sold more action figures and merch. That might seem trivial when it comes to being right for a film role… but my question is; would he have made the film more successful?
I think marketing wise, Mr T would've been a dream. The first film was loaded with Arnie one liner goodness. Calling Arnie 'the wrong man to hunt' was genius. Now just imagine if Mr T was the lead of Predator 2 and the tagline was 'he pities the alien who hunts him'. Corny? Yes. Gold? Yes. And his image alone… would've made for an awesome poster. Danny Glover has his 'too old for this shit' line, sure, but maybe not as cool coming off the heels of Arnie.
A fun little connection; Danny Glover's character is scared of heights, and in The A-Team, Mr T is scared of flying.
So i ask the question; would Predator 2 have been a more successful film if Mr T was the lead? Would his image and name have sold more tickets than Danny Glover could?
I understand the film would've been quite different; perhaps closer in tone with the first. Glover played the tired 'everyman' cop, whereas Mr T would've been this larger than life asskicker(much like Arnie). But let's focus purely on the box office numbers.
EDIT: I see the bots failed to read the post lole
EDIT 2:
Meeting Keyser (Busey) on the rooftop
Busey tries the smug government spiel.
Mr. T grabs him by the throat one-handed: “You talkin’ that jibber-jabber again? I want answers, not excuses! Spill it or I throw you off this roof and tell God you slipped!”