'Rush Hour 4' revived after Trump urged Paramount Skydance to bring franchise back: Reports
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: After a lot of speculation and negotiations that kept stalling, the development of a fourth installment of the famous buddy-cop comedy franchise ‘Rush Hour’ is happening for real; it is said that this happened after President Donald Trump kept pressing Paramount Studios.
The approval for the continuation of the saga, which has been silent for more than 18 years, is a big return to the series.
From trilogy to comeback: What brought it back
First, ‘Rush Hour,’ the film with Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker, came to theaters in 1998 as an original East-meets-West buddy cop action comedy. It made almost $240 million worldwide.
The follow-up to the first film, ‘Rush Hour 2’ (2001), was the franchise’s biggest success, with more than $340 million in total worldwide box office revenue.
Though the third installment, ‘Rush Hour 3’ (2007), received mixed critical reviews and had a low box-office return, the franchise was still considered a cultural icon.
For almost twenty years, fans and the studio staff were sure that there would be a fourth movie. However, the film was only a rumor in their conversations and never materialized.
The main reasons for the difficulties of the project were the questions regarding the characters' chemistry and the tone of the next film, and the director Brett Ratner's controversial legacy, as he left Hollywood due to allegations of misconduct.
Everything changed this month when insiders informed that Trump personally suggested to Paramount-Skydance's main shareholder to give the green light for ‘Rush Hour 4,’ the step that finally moved the film back to production.
Toward the end of 2024, it was announced that Ratner would be directing a documentary about the first lady Melania Trump for Amazon Prime, which is said to have paid $40 million for the rights.
According to the current agreement, Paramount is going to be in charge of the distribution, and Warner Bros. Discovery will get a share of the box office before the financiers are paid back.
In landscape of audience change and studio politics
The revival is additionally timed with major changes that are taking place at both Paramount and the industry at large.
RUSH HOUR 4 is officially happening! 🎉
— TIFF (@TIFF_NET) November 25, 2025
To celebrate, we’re looking back at the moment Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker reunited during TIFF '12 at an In Conversation With . . . Jackie Chan event. pic.twitter.com/jTEfdt9WNL
The increased number of films to be made by Paramount goes hand in hand with the three active bids from Paramount Skydance, Comcast, and Netflix to purchase Warner Bros, whose franchises are still among the most profitable ones in Hollywood.
As Warner Bros Discovery is going to be wrapping up the offloading of its assets by the end of December, ‘Rush Hour 4’ will be getting produced amid changes in studio ownership, fluctuating market strategies, and a theatrical world in which comedies seem to be affected by uncertainty.
