When you've got a producer with a successful franchise from the past, you can pretty much guarantee he'll be trying to figure out ways to keep it alive, no matter how likely that is. So when we tell you that producer Arthur Sarkissian, the guy behind the Rush Hour series as well as TV's Vegas, is talking about making more Rush Hour movies, your first reaction should be "Well, duh." But wait-- he's not just talking up his own ideas. Apparently he's got some of the big, important names on board as well.
Talking to Crave Online, Sarkissian said he wasn't just "working on Rush Hour 4," but that Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan were both involved as well. And yes, they're as eager to get away from Rush Hour 3 as everyone else is:
“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.”
Pressed for plot details Sarkissian mostly seemed to be spitballing, and he said they're still looking for a screenwriter-- and that even bringing back director Brett Ratner, who was responsible for the previous three films, wasn't a given. "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.” Ouch.
Since Rush Hour 3 came out in 2007, Chan and Tucker have talked about reuniting, but in reality set off on totally different career paths: Chan is releasing what he's calling his last hardcore martial arts film with this year's Chinese Zodiac, while Tucker has filmed his first role in 5 years, in David O. Russell's Silver Linings Playbook. A reunion between the two of them isn't totally impossible, but for now I'm chalking this up to an enthusiastic producer more than a film likely to go into production any time soon.
