Rush Hour 4 in the Works After President Trump Intervened to Revive Franchise 

Rush Hour 4 is reportedly moving forward at Paramount after President Donald Trump lobbied major Paramount Skydance shareholder Larry Ellison on behalf of director Brett Ratner.

According to multiple outlets, the studio is reviving the Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker action-comedy franchise with Ratner — who directed the original 1998 film — set to return to the director’s chair.

The decision comes “after prodding from Trump on behalf of” Ratner, Puck’s Matthew Belloni wrote on X.

Per The Guardian, Trump, 79, pushed for a new Rush Hour film in conversations with Ellison, a billionaire and the father of Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison. Larry Ellison is the company’s largest shareholder.

After years of speculation about a fourth Rush Hour entry, Chan, 71, confirmed in 2022 that they were “talking about” ideas, indicating at the time that he was in touch with an unnamed director.

Ratner, 56, was accused in 2017 by multiple women — including actresses Olivia Munn and Natasha Henstridge — of sexual misconduct or harassment amid Hollywood’s #MeToo movement. Following a detailed Los Angeles Times report on the allegations, Ratner denied any wrongdoing. He later filed, then dropped, a defamation lawsuit against Melanie Kohler, who had accused him of rape.

The filmmaker, who directed 1998’s Rush Hour and its 2001 and 2007 sequels, also maintains ties to the president. In October, it was announced that Ratner has a documentary in development at Amazon MGM Studios about First Lady Melania Trump.

Ellison, 81, recently held discussions with White House officials about the possibility of Paramount Skydance striking a deal to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, according to a Nov. 20 report by The Guardian. Several insiders claimed Ellison spoke with someone about potentially restructuring CNN, which is currently owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, including discussions that allegedly involved firing reporters such as Erin Burnett and Brianna Keilar, who are not favored by Trump.

This would not be Trump’s first brush with influencing media decision-makers. Earlier this year, Paramount Global drew attention for settling a lawsuit with Trump over a CBS News interview featuring him. He had sued CBS News, accusing the outlet of deceptively editing former Vice President Kamala Harris’ 2024 campaign trail appearance on 60 Minutes, according to reporting by Reuters. Paramount agreed to pay $16 million to Trump’s future presidential library.

In his 1987 book Trump: The Art of the Deal, the future president reflected on briefly considering a career in film after his 1964 graduation, writing that he “briefly flirted with the idea of attending film school… I was attracted to the glamour of the movies, and I admired guys like Sam Goldwyn, Daryl Zanuck, and most of all Louis B. Mayer, whom I considered great showmen. But in the end I decided real estate was a much better business.”

Casting for Rush Hour 4 has not yet been finalized. After appearing in this year’s The Shadow’s Edge and Karate Kid: Legends, Jackie Chan is next set to lead Panda Plan 2 and Guo Jia Jia in his native China. Chris Tucker, 54, most recently appeared on screen in 2023’s Air.