To be honest, the **Rush Hour **franchise wasn’t exactly on the top of the list of film series we were desperate to see more of. Sure, Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker made a fun combo at times, but the law of diminishing returns really seemed to kick in with the third movie. But producer Arthur Sarkissian appears undaunted by all that, telling Crave Online that he’s putting the pieces together for a fourth movie.
“I am working on it right now with Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan,” Sarkissian said. “I’m trying to do it closer to how I did **Rush Hour **1, more down to earth, more gritty, introduce two new characters and make it real the way the first one was. I personally was not happy with the third one. I thought 1 and 2 were very good. I think 3 got out of hand a little bit. It’s not a matter of just bringing them back to do another segment of that or a sequel to it by putting them in another city and having them bicker. I don’t want that. I want something new.”
There is no writer involved yet, and Sarkissian was coy when the subject of director Brett Ratner came up, as it appears the producer is not quite so keen on the idea of him coming back unless he toes the line: “If he wants to do it he’s more than welcome to do it but he’s got to do it in the right way.”
So we don’t know what Tucker and Chan will be up to this time, assuming this actually comes together – Jackie was rather negative on the idea in May and Tucker is notoriously tough to nail down, but they have showed up for the last three, so if the deals and script are right, they might for this one. The question is, should they?
Oh, and Chan fans should check out this month’s issue of Empire, which features the living legend submitting to our Pint of Milk interview. You can subscribe, find it in all good newsagents and on both UK and US iPad editions… You might also want to check out our recent Jackie Chan podcast over here.