Rush Hour 4 is reportedly happening, and of course it’s not because audiences have been camping outside studio lots begging for more. It’s because President Donald Trump specifically asked for it. Truly what is this timeline?
According to multiple reports, Paramount has lined up funding for a new Rush Hour sequel with original director Brett Ratner back at the helm, after Trump personally leaned on his billionaire mate Larry Ellison to get things moving.
The Guardian reports that Ratner had been shopping a fourth film, again starring Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker, around Hollywood for years with no luck, until Trump stepped in and lobbied Ellison, who’s the biggest shareholder in the newly formed Paramount Skydance.
The New York Post also noted that Trump pushed for Rush Hour 4 to be folded into Paramount’s wider interest in acquiring Warner Bros. Discovery, which currently controls the franchise rights, so this isn’t just a random nostalgia play — it’s tangled up in a massive studio power move as well.
If that sounds a bit like a president doing programming notes, people in the industry have basically said the same thing out loud. Puck’s Matthew Belloni summed it up, warning everyone to “get ready for the dumbest possible state‑controlled media”.
Other outlets have framed the decision as one slice of Trump’s broader second‑term mission to reshape American pop culture, including a stated desire to bring back the “raucous” comedies and action flicks of the late ’80s and ’90s.
Rush Hour, which first hit cinemas in 1998, has been cited as one of Trump’s favourite buddy‑cop series, and his enthusiasm for another instalment has reportedly been made very clear behind the scenes.
The other major part of this story is who’s being brought back with it. Ratner directed all three Rush Hour films, which together grossed more than US$850 million (AUD $1.3 billion) worldwide and were particularly huge in China, but his career basically slammed into a wall in 2017 after multiple women accused him of sexual misconduct and assault.
One of those women, former Endeavor employee Melanie Kohler, alleged that Ratner “preyed” on her at a club and raped her at the home of producer Robert Evans. Ratner sued her for defamation, and the case later settled. Kohler said in a 2017 statement that she hoped he would be held accountable “for the way he’s treated the nobodies of the world or at least the way he treated me”, per The Guardian.
In the wake of the wider #MeToo reckoning, Warner Bros cut ties with Ratner, and any version of Rush Hour 4 involving him was widely viewed as a non‑starter.
Despite that, Ratner has recently re‑emerged via a reported US$40 million (AUD $61.99 million) documentary about Melania Trump for Amazon MGM Studios, which is due in cinemas in January.
That film has been repeatedly cited as one of the key projects that helped rehab Ratner’s standing inside Trump’s orbit, putting him back in the mix for big‑ticket work.
Now, with the president openly backing him and pushing for his return to blockbuster filmmaking, the new Rush Hour sequel is being talked about as part of a broader attempt to champion a particular brand of “old‑fashioned masculinity” in Hollywood. That same push has included Trump naming stars like Sylvester Stallone, Jon Voight and Mel Gibson as informal “special ambassadors” to the industry.
So, does the world actually want Rush Hour 4, or is this purely a presidential passion project with a studio logo on it? It’s definitely feeling like the latter. But whether that means a triumphant comeback for the franchise or the most cursed reboot of the decade is something only time — and the box office — will answer.
Lead image: Rush Hour / Getty
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