The Bourne franchise went from a tailspin after the middling performance of The Bourne Legacy to an updraft with the return of both Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass into the franchise fold for what's now simply being called Bourne 4. While the Justin Lin helmed/Jeremy Renner starring Bourne project is in a holding pattern, the Damon/Greengrass film is on the tarmac and ready to roll. But while things appear to be going well for the project, it seems that it's going to need just a bit more time before its ready to hit theaters.
The L.A. Times is reporting that the new adventures of Jason Bourne have been pushed back two weeks, from the original July 15th, 2016 date to July 29th, 2016. This new slot takes the film out of the path of Star Trek 3's opening on July 8, 2016, and lands it in the original release date for Matt Reeves' next Planet Of The Apes film – which itself was bumped to July 2017. It's not a huge shift by any stretch, but it's enough of a move to give the new film a little more time to maneuver. In other words, it's not that Bourne 5 is losing confidence; it's re-positioning itself for a better angle of attack.
The 2016/2017 line-up of blockbusters really seems to be in a huge state of flux at this moment, with films moving left and right to try and carve out their little patch of box office gold. The fact that Bourne 5 moved back two weeks looks like it's the right strategy, because Star Trek 3 should be set up for box office success after two huge home runs with Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness. But should Star Trek 3 not live up to the pedigree that J.J. Abrams had built with the first two films, word will spread fast and those two weeks could mean that the film market will be in need of a comfortable hit. Enter the newly returning team of Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass, bringing back their respective talents to the Bourne series, ready to give the world a thrill that's familiar but brand new at the same time.
Seeing as the plot to Bourne 5 is under wraps at this point, there's no clue as to whether the film will feature a Aaron Cross and Jason Bourne, or if that concept will be pushed off to either before or after the Aaron Cross follow up that Justin Lin is still attached to make. All that's known at this point is the future of the Bourne franchise just got interesting again, and Matt Damon is going to kick some old school franchise ass once more. If you need any more than that, you're just going to have to wait for the first trailer to drop - perhaps at the end of this year.
