Rush Hour 4 - Is It Happening?

In the world of buddy cop comedies, the "Rush Hour" franchise remains a standout. The odd coupling of a reserved chief inspector from Hong Kong and a fast-talking LAPD officer sparked three action-packed, hilarious films popular the world over, amassing over $850 million at the global box office.

Across the three films, Chief Inspector Lee (Jackie Chan) and Detective James Carter (Chris Tucker) solve cases in Hong Kong and the U.S., even paying a brief visit to France, typically involving the Triads and government officials. And while the trilogy offers adrenaline-inducing action sequences, it's the comedic chemistry between the two actors that has endured.

When the first installment of "Rush Hour" debuted in 1998, North American audiences had just become acquainted with Chan following the success of "Rumble in the Bronx," while films like "Friday" and "The Fifth Element" highlighted Tucker as an emerging comedic voice. Their natural banter won audiences over with both actors matching one another pound for pound in the comedy ring, resulting in a trilogy better remembered for its humor than anything else.

It's been nearly 20 years since the release of "Rush Hour 3," and not only have fans been anxiously anticipating Lee and Carter's return, as it would turn out, both actors have been as well.

Despite "Rush Hour" propelling Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker's careers, both have kept a relatively low profile in the U.S. since the third film. Tucker has only appeared in a handful of movies following 2007's "Rush Hour 3" (including "Silver Linings Playbook" and "Air"), and the actor has battled legal issues with the IRS as far back as 2002, and as recent as 2021. For Chan, aside from starring in a few Hollywood productions in the early 2000s like "Shanghai Noon" and "Shanghai Knights" with Owen Wilson, and lending his voice to "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem" and the "Kung Fu Panda" movies, he has primarily worked in mainland China in recent years.

Although the professional and personal lives of the two leads may have put "Rush Hour 4" on the back burner for the first decade, the last few years have been complicated greatly by the franchise's association with Brett Ratner, who directed all three installments of the trilogy.

In November 2017, a number of women accused Ratner of sexual assault and harassment, prompting Warner Bros. (parent company of New Line Cinema, the studio behind the "Rush Hour" films) to cut all ties with the director. Seemingly unfazed, Ratner reportedly told associates months after the allegations that he would return to the director's chair to helm the fourth film. Warner Bros. had expressed interest in reviving the franchise, even tapping Kenya Barris to write a script, but were forced to "put a pin" in the film regardless of the beleaguered director's own proclamations.

Their relationship may not have gotten off to the smoothest of starts, but in the years since a real friendship has blossomed between Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker, and both stars have spoken very positively and encouragingly about a fourth "Rush Hour" installment.

While promoting Martin Campbell's "The Foreigner" in October 2017, Chan told Power 106 in Los Angeles that "Rush Hour 4" is coming "next year," joking that he and Tucker need to make this film before they're "all old men." This was prior to the allegations against Ratner being made, but in early 2018, Tucker still seemed convinced a new film was happening, teasing ESPN's The Plug that it would be "the rush of all rushes."

Tucker elaborated more on the progress of the film in 2019 when appearing on the Winging It podcast, saying, "It's not in pre-production. [But] we're working on a few things on the script right now. Jackie Chan wants to do it, I want to do it, the studio wants to do it, so we're trying to get it together."

Recently, Chan and Tucker both expressed that "Rush Hour 4" was on the imminent horizon. Chan told audiences at the Red Sea International Film Festival in December that they are "talking about 'Rush Hour 4' right now," while Tucker named "Rush Hour 4" as a project audiences can expect from him in the future when he appeared on V-193's Big Tigger Morning Show promoting "Air" in 2023.

Despite the enthusiasm of the leads, it would appear that "Rush Hour 4" remains in the pre-pre-production phase with no details available about where a fourth story could go. "Rush Hour" and "Rush Hour 2" saw Tucker and Chan swap the fish out of water role, while "Rush Hour 3" welcomed Ambassador Solon Han (Tzi Ma) and his daughter Soo-Yung Han (Julia Hsu in "Rush Hour" and Zhang Jingchu in "Rush Hour 3") back into the mix. Although the ambassador and Soo-Yung make a return, each of the "Rush Hour" films exists as a stand-alone story, creating an attractive clean slate for the "Rush Hour 4" filmmakers. Since the only necessary component required in a new film is Tucker and Chan appearing as Carter and Lee, there is a lot of flexibility and free-reign for the incoming writing team.

The same can be said about location. Hong Kong and Los Angeles have been the two mainstay locales of the "Rush Hour" franchise, with the vibrancy and distinctive cultures of both settings highlighted in the films. The car bombing in "Rush Hour 3" brought Lee and Carter to Paris, opening the door for "Rush Hour 4" to continue globe trotting.

Given Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker's close friendship and keen interest in making a fourth installment, fans can rest assured that, at a minimum, the two stars of "Rush Hour" will return for a fourth outing. Unlike other franchises, though, the series hasn't kept a consistent stable of actors or characters beyond the two leads. The only other character who has appeared in all three films is Captain William Diel, Carter's superior officer. (Although Diel's appearances in "Rush Hour 2" and "Rush Hour 3" can be best described as cameos.) Portraying the captain throughout the franchise was veteran Philip Baker Hall, who unfortunately died in 2022.

Tzi Ma's Ambassador Han also appears in multiple "Rush Hour" films, and has been the only through-line in terms of the cases Carter and Lee investigate. And while Roselyn Sánchez only officially appeared in "Rush Hour 2" as Agent Isabella Molina, a deleted scene in "Rush Hour 3" shows her alongside Noémie Lenoir's Geneviève greeting their boyfriends Lee and Carter on board a private plane headed to Fiji. Similar to any plot details, casting news for "Rush Hour 4" has been quiet, but hopefully reprisals for Ambassador Han and Agent Molina aren't out of the question.