Rush Hour 4 Breaks the Bank: Inside the Massive Budget for Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker’s Return
Rush Hour 4 is speeding ahead at Paramount with Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker — and the price tag is reportedly sky-high. A report in Puck by Kim Masters says the long-awaited sequel is shaping up as one of the priciest buddy-cop comebacks in years.
Rush Hour 4 is somehow both happening and expensive. Like, very expensive. There is money coming in from places you do not usually see on a buddy-cop sequel, and the dealmaking around it is... not simple.
The money
Per a new report from Kim Masters at Puck, Paramount is moving ahead with Rush Hour 4 on a budget north of $100 million. Part of that production money is coming from Saudi Arabia.
What Ratner says
Masters reached out to director Brett Ratner to confirm the price tag and to ask two touchy questions: whether Melania Trump's production company, Muse Films, has any role here, and how producer Tarak Ben Ammar helped line up the Saudi financing. Context: Ratner is also making a documentary about the First Lady, hence the Muse Films curiosity.
"Muse Films is absolutely not involved in Rush Hour 4," Ratner wrote. "What a ridiculous assumption that Muse Films is producing. Tarak is the producer and financier, and I am not privy to the details of his conversations. The budget is over 100m. Happy Holidays."
Ratner has also been telling studio executives that Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker are ready to go.
Who is making and releasing it
Last month, Paramount struck a deal with Warner Bros. to handle Rush Hour 4. In the arrangement, Warner Bros. will get a double-digit percent distribution fee for allowing Paramount to make the fourth Rush Hour. If that sounds like a rights-and-revenue knot, that is because it is.
How we got here
This sequel was stuck in limbo for years thanks to sexual assault allegations against Ratner, who directed the first three films. The project reportedly got a push when President Donald Trump supported Ratner and reached out to Oracle's Larry Ellison to help make the movie happen. Larry's son, David Ellison, is now the chairman and CEO of Paramount Skydance.
Quick refresher
The franchise follows Hong Kong Police Force Chief Inspector Lee (Jackie Chan) and LAPD Detective James Carter (Chris Tucker), a mismatched duo who keep stumbling into big investigations. The first three movies — Rush Hour (1998), Rush Hour 2 (2001), and Rush Hour 3 (2007) — have pulled in more than $850 million worldwide.
- Budget: over $100 million, with part of the financing coming from Saudi Arabia
- Producer/financier: Tarak Ben Ammar
- Director: Brett Ratner, whose past sexual assault allegations stalled the sequel for years
- Studio setup: Paramount is making it; Warner Bros. gets a double-digit percent distribution fee for letting it proceed
- Talent status: Ratner says Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker are ready
- Side note: despite speculation tied to Ratner's First Lady documentary, Melania Trump's Muse Films is not involved
- Franchise tally: three films (1998, 2001, 2007) with $850M+ worldwide
Short version: the fourth Rush Hour is back on with a nine-figure price tag, unusual financing, and a complicated studio handshake. We will see if the movie is as loud as the line items.