Rush Hour 4 is still racing ahead, but the highly-anticipated sequel may hit a significant speed bump when it comes time to pay its two main stars.
Negotiations are ongoing between Rush Hour 4 producers and Paramount, reports Puck, but the budget number being bandied about may not be enough to cover the cost of signing Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan to reprise their roles.
Brett Ratner reportedly wants to start filming the Rush Hour sequel in spring or summer 2026, with a budget of around $100 million, which sounds like a tidy sum, until one considers that Tucker and Chan each made over $20 million on Rush Hour 3.
Once the financials are all sorted out, plans are to shoot the film in China, Africa, and Saudi Arabia. Tucker and Chan have both expressed interest in doing another Rush Hour film, but neither actor has entered negotiations as of yet.
It was reported back in November that Paramount was on-board to distribute Rush Hour 4, after reaching agreement with Warner Bros. on a fee. The project was reportedly given a big assist by an unlikely booster, when Donald Trump encouraged Paramount owner David Ellison to make it happen.
Rush Hour franchise mastermind Ratner directed the upcoming documentary Melania, about the First Lady of the United States, Melania Trump.
It has been a long hiatus for the Rush Hour series of action films, with Rush Hour 3 releasing way back in 2007. In 2017, director Ratner faced a rash of sexual assault allegations, forcing WB to cut ties with him, and seemingly casting Rush Hour 4 into limbo.
Rush Hour star Chan spoke about his own desire to make another sequel, telling ScreenRant back in May that while he doesn’t know anything about the project’s status, he is ready to go if the film gets made.
“I want to do a Rush Hour 4,” Chan said, while expressing some urgency about getting the film underway, given the inexorable march of time. “Hurry up! Otherwise, Chris Tucker and me [will be] 100 years old. We’ll be old men doing Rush Hour.”
Ratner began talking about Rush Hour 4 soon after the release of the third film, which added $258 million to the franchise’s total worldwide box office haul of $848 million, but cost up to $180 million to produce, due in large part to its stars’ massive salaries.
The director himself predicted possible budget issues for a fourth Rush Hour movie, when in 2011 he stated to Vulture that the sequel probably wouldn’t get made, because, “It’d be too much to pay me, Chris [Tucker], and Jackie [Chan] to come back.”
Ratner’s ongoing involvement in the Rush Hour franchise was called into question after 2017’s assault allegations, but it appears he continues to be at the helm of the Trump-approved action series.