Last December, the Rush Hour franchise made headlines after Jackie Chan revealed during the Red Sea International Film Festival that he was in the early stages of developing the film’s fourth installment with an unidentified director.
At the time, Chan shared that the pair were working together to get the script right. Although this announcement sent shockwaves online for months, the actor’s co-star Chris Tucker stayed relatively silent about the news despite being asked countless times about the project by fans, until recently.
On March 21, during an interview with Audacy’s V-103, Tucker, who was promoting his latest movie Air with Ben Affleck, opened up about returning to the Rush Hour franchise and the changes he would implement to make this film the best one yet. While discussing how excited he is to reprise his role as LAPD officer James Carter and how much he enjoys working with Chan, the 51-year-old said:
“You’re going to see a lot of good stuff coming, but it’s going to be on a whole other level. That’s what I like… I’m excited about that. It’s not going to be what you’ve normally seen… Rush Hour 4, that’s something I definitely will probably drop in there because I love working with Jackie, but I’ve got some new stuff that I think you’re really gonna like. I’m excited about it.”
Later, as Tucker played a game about the particular movies he would remove from his filmography, the star disclosed that he would toss Rush Hour 3. Tucker explained that his decision stemmed from the fact that he couldn’t authentically play Carter the way he’s done in the past due to production. The comedian expressed, as he mentioned that he plans to work closely with a team for Rush Hour 4‘s script:
“Rush Hour 3 got to go. I thought it could have been better… First of all they wouldn’t let me do my thing. Because in the first I did my thing, I knew what to do. But when you start making a lot of money everybody want to do what they want to do and then they give me the script like ‘here. This is how you be funny.’ I’m like ‘oh, man. Y’all messed this whole thing up…’ If we do another one I’m going to get the team together to make it go right.”
The Rush Hour franchise became an instant classic when the film made its theatrical debut in the late 1990s. The movie’s overall premise follows Tucker’s character James Carter, and Inspector Lee (Chan) as they attempt to solve many cases. The first film’s success spawned two sequels: 2001’s Rush Hour 2, Rush Hour 3, which was released in 2007, and a short-lived television series of the same. Since the Rush Hour franchise premiere, it has generated over $849 million worldwide.
At this time, no additional details about Rush Hour 4 have been released to the public.