Another Rush Hour is in the works – and insiders claim Donald Trump had a starring role in making it happen.
Paramount is said to be locking in a deal to take on Rush Hour 4, per The Hollywood Reporter, paving the way for Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker to reunite for the first time since the 1998 buddy-cop classic exploded into a half-billion-dollar franchise.
Brett Ratner — who directed all three previous films before his career collapsed in 2017 following multiple sexual misconduct allegations — is now being linked to a potential return.
Ratner began re-entering the industry by directing a big-budget documentary on Melania Trump, with the First Lady credited as an executive producer.
The project gave him a foothold back in Hollywood — and a politically powerful ally.
According to a new report, President Trump has been putting pressure on his longtime ally, Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison, to bring crowd-pleasing action films back to theaters — starting with a Rush Hour revival.
According to a new report, President Donald Trump has been putting pressure on his longtime ally, Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison, to bring crowd-pleasing action films back to theaters — starting with a Rush Hour revival
Paramount is said to be locking in a deal to take on Rush Hour 4, per The Hollywood Reporter , paving the way for Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker to reunite for the first time since the 1998 buddy-cop classic exploded into a half-billion-dollar franchise
Ellison’s son, David, now runs the newly merged Paramount Global and is reportedly weighing a massive bid for Warner Bros. Discovery — the parent studio of New Line Cinema, which originally released Rush Hour.
Semafor claims the president ‘personally pressed’ Ellison to ‘revive’ Rush Hour.
He’s also said to be eyeing a revival of 1988 cult favorite Bloodsport — meaning Trump may be steering Hollywood into a full-blown throwback action era.
The Daily Mail has not received a response to its request for comment from reps for Tucker, Chan and Ratner.
Before Trump’s push, Rush Hour had cemented itself as one of the most commercially successful action-comedy franchises of its era.
The original 1998 film paired Chan’s martial arts expertise with Tucker’s manic comedic timing, delivering a high-octane blend of action and humor that appealed across global markets.
The film grossed over $245 million worldwide, far exceeding its $33 million production budget.
Its sequel, Rush Hour 2 (2001), opened to $67 million domestically — a record at the time for a live-action comedy — and earned $347 million worldwide.
Semafor claims the president ‘personally pressed’ Ellison to ‘revive’ Rush Hour; (Trump and Ellison in January 2025)
Brett Ratner — who directed all three previous films before his career collapsed in 2017 following multiple sexual misconduct allegations — is now being linked to a potential return; (Producer Brian Grazer, Donald Trump, Director Brett Ratner, Melania Trump and Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs attend the world premiere of “Tower Heist” at the Ziegfeld Theatre on October 24, 2011)
Rush Hour 3 followed in 2007, bringing in $258 million internationally despite critical lukewarm reviews, proving that audiences remained loyal to the Chan-Tucker chemistry even as the franchise aged.
Ratner’s directorial style — a slick combination of rapid pacing, comedic set-pieces, and martial arts choreography — was widely credited for keeping the series both fresh and crowd-pleasing.
Talk of Ratner sliding back into the director’s chair surfaced last year, but a Rush Hour project was deemed too toxic to touch thanks to his misconduct scandal.
Variety reported that Ratner shopped the project for months but no major distributor wanted the blowback that would come with his name.
Ratner’s fall from grace was swift: actresses including Olivia Munn and Elliot Page accused him of sexual misconduct in 2017.
He has denied the allegations, and his defamation battle with accuser Melanie Kohler was settled in 2018.
Rush Hour 4 would be his first feature since 2014’s Hercules starring Dwayne The Rock Johnson — a decade-long exile now potentially eased by the presidency’s most unexpected film buff.
His Melania documentary — a $40 million Amazon project chronicling the 20 days before Trump’s 2025 inauguration — drops in January, marking his official re-entry into the entertainment world.
As for the franchise’s stars, both Tucker and Chan have kept things diplomatic when it comes to Trump
As for the franchise’s stars, both have kept things diplomatic when it comes to Trump.
After Trump’s 2016 win, Jackie Chan said: ‘Just give him a chance to try to change America and change the world. He’s a businessman… I think he knows how to handle these types of things.’
Tucker, speaking to Piers Morgan in 2018, sidestepped politics but admitted he’d crossed paths with Trump once.
He added, ‘I want him to be successful, I want him to do the right thing.’
