Paramount has just done something that feels straight out of a parody news segment. Rush Hour 4 is happening. And the guy who finally muscled it into existence? The President of the United States. Yes, the same man who once demanded his son fast-forward through everything in Bloodsport that wasn’t punches or groin kicks. Donald Trump made Paramount greenlight Rush Hour 4 with Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker.
For years, Brett Ratner wandered Hollywood like a director in movie jail. Studios wouldn’t touch him. Not after the 2017 #MeToo allegations that torpedoed his career and erased every future gig he had lined up. The man made Red Dragon, Tower Heist (shot in Trump Tower), and the first three Rush Hour films that racked up more than $850 million worldwide. Hollywood said no every time he pitched a sequel. Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker were ready to go, but the suits weren’t interested.
Then Trump picked up the phone.
According to Matthew Belloni over at Puck, Trump met with Paramount and Skydance’s David Ellison and pushed hard for Rush Hour 4. He reportedly did it as a favor to Ratner, who recently directed a $40 million documentary about Melania Trump for Amazon MGM Studios. That documentary lands in theaters on 30 January.
Paramount said yes. Producer Tarak Ben Ammar locked in financing. And the studio will distribute the film for Warner Bros in exchange for a double-digit percentage fee. An unusual arrangement during an even more unusual time. Skydance and Paramount are currently among the top bidders eyeing Warner Bros. Discovery. Now they’re working together on a buddy-cop comedy.
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So we’re getting Jackie and Tucker back as Inspector Lee and Detective Carter. The return of badly translated lines, improvised shouting, and Chris Tucker’s eternal disbelief that Jackie Chan is Jackie Chan. Audiences still quote these movies. And, let’s be honest, nostalgia is a money printer.
Still, not everyone’s convinced this sequel is something the world asked for. The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw wrote, “Does the world really need or want Rush Hour 4? If it did, surely we would have it by now?”
Trump’s push for this movie lines up with his latest campaign to “reintroduce old-fashioned masculinity into Hollywood,” reportedly tapping Sylvester Stallone, Jon Voight and Mel Gibson as unofficial ambassadors.
This isn’t the first time Trump’s movie taste has influenced his decisions. Back in 1997, he told The New Yorker that Bloodsport was “an incredible, fantastic movie.” Journalist Mark Singer explained that Trump made his son fast-forward through every moment without a broken bone. “Admit it, you’re laughing!” he yelled when a villain took a “crippling blow to the scrotum.” He only wants the action.
So here we are. Rush Hour 4 exists because a 77-year-old businessman-turned-President wants Hollywood to bring back the action hits he actually watches without skipping to the good parts. For Ratner, it’s a lifeline. For fans, a long-awaited reunion.
Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth? Rush Hour is back. And you can thank President Donald Trump for that.
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