Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker are discussing plans to develop "Rush Hour 4" with a few studio bosses. Tucker confirmed that talks have begun but it's not yet going into pre-production at this point.
Tucker confirmed that he and his co-star have been talking about "Rush Hour 4" during an interview with the podcast show Winging It. The actor said that Chan wants to do the movie as much as he does and the studio is also on board the project.
But as far as pre-production is concerned, Tucker said that they are still working out some things before the script is written. Perhaps the actor meant that they are still looking for a potential screenwriter but Tucker is confident that things will come together soon.
The first "Rush Hour" film debuted in 1998 and grossed over $244 million. The second and third film came out in 2001 and 2007 with a combined $600 million box office profit. Jim Kouf and Ross LaManna wrote the first movie, while Jeff Nathanson did "Rush Hour 2" and "Rush Hour 3." All films were directed by Brett Ratner ("X-Men: The Last Stand").
Chan played the role of a Hong Kong police officer, Chief Inspector Yan Naing Lee, who was tracking an international crime syndicate. The case brought him to Los Angeles for the first time, where he had to work with a Tucker's incorrigible character, Detective James Carter. Eventually, the two became buddies who would work together on more cases.
But this would not be the first time news of the development of "Rush Hour 4" came to light. In 2009, Ratner said in an interview that he's been talking to Jet Li and Danny DeVito for "Rush Hour 4." However, the director became busy with other projects, especially with the X-Men franchise.
In 2012, producer Arthur M. Sarkissian was in the midst of picking new writers for the project. Reports stated that the producer wanted "Rush Hour 4" to be grittier since he wasn't pleased with the third film.
In 2015, Tucker and Chan met to talk about doing the film. Two years later, the actors said that they might begin filming in 2018 without Ratner, who has been implicated in a sexual misconduct allegation.
Meanwhile, in the midst of all these talks, "Rush Hour" was turned into a TV series on CBS in 2015. The show starred Jon Foo as Detective Jonathan Lee and Justine Hires as Detective James Carter. However, the network canceled the series after one season.
