President Donald Trump will apparently be getting his wish for a new installment in a long-dormant buddy cop movie franchise.
The president has been pitching projects to Paramount owner Larry Ellison, the world’s second-richest man and major Trump donor, as he takes over Warner Bros. Discovery, and Puck’s Matthew Belloni reported that one of those ideas is apparently getting the green light.
“I teased this last night in What I’m Hearing but now confirmed: Paramount WILL release Rush Hour 4 after prodding from Trump on behalf of Brett Ratner,” Belloni reported. “Distribution deal. Producer Tarak Ben Ammar is lining up financing. Get ready for the dumbest possible state-controlled media.”
Deadline also confirmed with Paramount sources that the studio would distribute the film on behalf of Warner Bros. for a double-digit percent distribution fee.
“Apparently, a number of studios passed on releasing the movie, including Warner Bros’ own New Line, which is the architect behind the Jackie Chan-Chris Tucker franchise that blasted Ratner’s directing career out of a canon spawned a trilogy grossing $850 million,” Deadline reported.
“The first Rush Hour movie was in 1998, the second in 2001 and the third in 2007. Tucker and Chan are reportedly back for Part 4.”
Ratner directed all three previous installments of the franchise, which debuted in 1998 but has not had a new film since 2007, and Warner Bros. cut ties with the director in 2017 after multiple sexual assault allegations were made against him.
The embattled director’s first project since his banishment from Hollywood is a $40 million documentary about Melania Trump that’s expected to be released in January on Amazon.
“Trump almost certainly ‘wants’ RUSH HOUR 4 to happen because Brett Ratner wants it to happen and he wants Brett Ratner to be rewarded for his upcoming Melania puff piece movie,” wrote journalist Jesse Hassenger. “I’d be shocked if Trump had seen more than 40% of any single RUSH HOUR movie.”
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