New Line CinemaRush Hour 4 is officially moving forward at Paramount, with Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan set to reunite for the first time in nearly two decades – and it’s all down to a push from an unexpected source.
As the ultimate buddy cop franchise, the original Rush Hour trilogy had a huge impact on pop culture, centering on the mismatched HKPF chief inspector Lee (Chan) and LAPD detective James Carter (Tucker) as they fight crime in Hong Kong and Los Angeles.
Despite mixed critical reception, the movies enjoyed huge success at the box office between 1998 and 2007, earning more than $850 million worldwide. But as studio priorities shifted and other factors came into play, a long-rumored fourth movie has remained in development limbo since the late ‘00s.
That all changed this week, when news emerged that Rush Hour 4 is finally going ahead. And one person’s demand may have played a major part in getting the greenlight.
Rush Hour 4 is going ahead after unexpected push
Sources told Deadline that Rush Hour 4 is moving forward at Paramount. This comes shortly after a Semafor report stating that US President Donald Trump had personally pressed the studio’s partial owner and financial backer, Larry Ellison, to revive the buddy cop franchise.
Ellison’s son, David Ellison, is now the CEO of Paramount following Skydance’s acquisition earlier this year, which has only strengthened the family’s influence within the studio.
The first three Rush Hour movies were distributed by New Line Cinema, a subsidiary of Warner Bros., but it was among multiple studios that turned down the fourth film.
Despite the hesitance in Hollywood, Paramount has agreed to get involved, but only in a limited capacity. Sources told Variety that instead of co-financing or marketing the new movie, the studio will simply handle theatrical distribution for a flat fee.
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Warner Bros., meanwhile, will receive first-dollar gross on the sequel, meaning the studio gets a cut of box office revenue before the movie’s financiers regain costs.
Brett Ratner’s return as director has also raised eyebrows. The filmmaker helmed the Rush Hour trilogy, but his career was stalled after multiple sexual assault allegations were made against him in 2017 amid the rise of #MeToo.
Creative CommonsRush Hour 4 will mark his first feature film since 2014’s Hercules, and his re-entry into the industry arrives just as he completes a high-profile documentary about First Lady Melania Trump for Amazon.
As for the film itself, plot details are still being kept under wraps and there’s no release window just yet as production is yet to begin. What is confirmed is that Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker are officially returning as Lee and Carter, reuniting on screen for the first time in 19 years.
In the meantime, read about how Paramount is among multiple companies seeking to buyout Warner Bros. You can also check out the new movies coming to streaming this month and the best films of 2025 so far.