Rush Hourmay be the latest franchise to get the gender-swap treatment. We’ve been hearing for some time that Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker may reunite forRush Hour 4. Whether or not that actually ends up happening remains up in the air. But Hollywood isn’t content to just sit on its hands when they have a perfectly good franchise just collecting dust and, as such, they’re looking to follow the trend and give this one to a couple of big female stars.
Before really digging in, we must caution that, for the time being, until the studio or someone involved with the alleged production weighs in, or at least until some additional reports corroborating this story come out, this should only be regarded as a rumor. That said, a new report states thatSTX Entertainmentis currently in development on a “female-centric” version of theRush Hourfranchise. Sadly, for the time being, there are no plot details available, but we do know at least one of the stars who is being eyed for the alleged project, and that’s Bingbing Li
For those who don’t know the name,Bingbing Li has been a huge starin China for some time and she became known to American audiences last year in the giant shark flickThe Meg, which went on to become a surprisingly big hit at the box office. So, she would be a logical choice for theJackie Chan side of the coin. But who would be the female equivalent of Chris Tucker? There are no names listed currently so it’s anyone’s guess. In recent years,Ghostbusters,Ocean’s 8,Overboardand more have gone this route with even more on the way, so there is certainly a roadmap to follow.
This is a franchise that has been lying dormant on the big screen for more than a decade, asRush Hour3 was released back in 2007. There was, however, an attempt made to bring the action to the small screen with a TV series in 2016.The show aired on CBSand starred Justin Hires and Jon Foo in the lead roles. The experiment lasted for just one season. So, really, it seems like if this is going to work again, it’s going to be as a movie.
To date, the threeRush Hourmovies have grossed a combined $850 million at the global box office. They were all directed by now-disgraced filmmaker Brett Ratner, who has had to face down a slew of sexual misconduct allegations. Needless to say, be itRush Hour4 or this proposed female-led reboot, he almost certainly won’t be involved. On that topic, if this movie does happen, it doesn’t mean that Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan can’t return for their own installment of the franchise. Both projects could easily exist in the same universe. We’ll have to see how this all shakes out. This news was first reported byThat Hashtag Show.
