After a decade-long break from the franchise, Jackie Chan has confirmed that Rush Hour 4 is finally moving forward. The original Rush Hour was the Asian superstar's breakthrough film in the U.S., and the story found Chan’s Hong Kong cop teaming up with Chris Tucker fast-talking U.S. detective to solve a kidnapping. The plot was nothing special, but Chan’s action skills combined with Tucker’s comic relief made for a hit film at the box office.

Two sequels followed in 2001 and 2007 respectively, with the third Rush Hour - which took Lee and Carter to Paris for (lame) hi-jinks - being met with a lukewarm response from critics and diminished returns at the box-office, compared to previous installments. Despite this, the series remains well-liked for the unique chemistry between Chan and Tucker, and fans have been asking for another sequel for years.

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Chan confirmed their wishes are coming through in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle. The action legend was there to promote his new film The Foreigner, and during the Facebook video chat he answered a fan question regarding a potential fourth Rush Hour:

“Good news. Next year, Rush Hour 4, and I hope the script done. And day after tomorrow we meet the director and Chris Tucker again to make sure we go the right track.”

Although Chan doesn’t name the director in question, he likely means Brett Ratner, who helmed the three previous entries and is currently attached to a Hugh Hefner biopic starring Jared Leto. While it would definitely be fun to have Chan and Tucker back together, hopefully, the fourth movie will find a fresh angle. The third movie felt like a lazy retread of the previous adventures, and neither of the leads looked terribly enthused to be involved. But at least the franchise hasn’t opted for a remake. As the short-lived Rush Hour TV series in 2016 showed, without Chan and Tucker the idea of Rush Hour just doesn’t work.

Hopefully, the script will get Chan excited too, because he’s confessed he doesn’t particularly like the Rush Hour series, despite its huge success. He feels the action scenes are underwhelming compared to his Hong Kong efforts, and he doesn’t quite get the comedy either. After finishing Rush Hour 3 he said “Nothing particularly exciting stood out that made this movie special for me…I spent four months making this film and I still don’t fully understand the humor.”

The fan response, and presumably the large cheques, kept him coming back, so hopefully the forthcoming Rush Hour 4 - which doesn’t yet have a release date - will be worth the long wait.

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Source: SFC [via Jackfroot]