Last year, Universal Pictures announced that they would have the upcoming Bourne sequel - simply called Bourne 5 for now - in theaters on August 15, 2015. In case it's not clear, however, that date is not happening. Star Jeremy Renner is currently hard at work reprising his role as Hawkeye in Joss Whedon's The Avengers: Age of Ultron, and with the Bourne release date now just a little over a year away, there just isn't enough time for the production to get going in order to make its announced date. Rather than rushing the whole bit, however, Universal has instead decided to bump the film and will now have it come out nearly a full year later.
This news comes to us via Box Office Mojo, which says that Bourne 5 will now be coming out on July 15, 2016. While this is certainly a better date schedule-wise, as July is always a better movie month than August, it also means that the film will be facing down some serious competition. Already scheduled to come out that same weekend is Ice Age 5, but surrounding Bourne on the calendar is also Independence Day 2 and Tarzan on July 1st, a new untitled Marvel Studios movie on July 8th, and a new King Arthur movie on July 22nd. Basically, it's going to have to make a hell of a lot of money in it's opening weekend, because it's going to get cut off at the legs quickly after.
How well the Bourne franchise is going to be able to perform from here on out remains a big question. The Bourne Legacy, which was Jeremy Renner's first film in the franchise, made less than all three of the Matt Damon movies, and ultimately not able to make its $125 million budget back from the domestic release alone. The silver lining is that the movie was able to attract and audience overseas, pushing its global box office total to $276 million.
A big edge that Bourne 5 will certainly have over its most recent predecessor is big name director. While Tony Gilroy has been a part of the franchise from the beginning as a writer, only taking the director's chair for Legacy, the next sequel is going to be made by Justin Lin, who made a big name for himself helming Fast & Furious: Tokyo Drift, Fast & Furious, Fast Five, and Fast & Furious 6 (all also made by Universal). Lin signed on for the project last November, and while a nearly-full year push for Bourne 5 is a pretty big deal, apparently he is sticking around. I wonder if he'll make another movie in the meantime.
Beyond the presence of Jeremy Renner and Justin Lin, we don't really know much about the next Bourne movie. Newcomer Andrew Baldwin is penning the screenplay, but no plot details have been revealed yet. Look for production to start sometime next year.
