One of the biggest action-buddy comedies of the late 90s and early aughts is the Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker Rush Hour franchise. The first film became a huge hit, raking in $244 million worldwide with the winning combo of Chan’s action and Tucker’s comedy and how their personalities constantly conflict with each other amid a huge kidnapping case. The series also catapulted director Brett Ratner into a big-budget blockbuster filmmaker with films like Red Dragon and X-Men: The Last Stand.
The Hong Kong action star recently made an appearance at the Red Sea Film Festival, according to Deadline, where he confirmed he is currently in talks to make another installment in the series. Chan spoke to an audience at the film festival, where he revealed, “We’re talking about part 4 right now.” He even goes on to add that he would be meeting with the director that night. However, Chan did not reveal if he was specifically talking about Ratner, who is currently facing lawsuits for sexual harassment. Ratner last directed a film in 2014, which was Dwayne Johnson’s period fantasy, Hercules.
Chan would go on to reminisce about how he had to be talked into doing the first film since his few attempts to break into Hollywood would not go optimally for him. “I tried so many times to go to Hollywood, but after that, I said no more Hollywood because my English is not good, they’re not my culture, they don’t like this kind of action. My manager said look, there’s a script, and it’s called Rush Hour. I said no, Hong Kong police? I’m not going to do it. He said Jackie, why don’t you try last time. I said okay, this is the last time.”
Although he’s one of the biggest action stars in the world, it’s getting harder and harder for him to pull off his signature style, once claiming he would be retiring from martial arts action flicks after the release of Chinese Zodiac in 2012. He continued to make action films. However, the star says he is now planning to shift his focus to directing love stories instead of action stories.