Trump wants a fourth “Rush Hour” film and is reportedly pressing Paramount’s new owner to make it happen

Trump, a long-time fan of ’80s and ’90s action movies, particularly loves “Rush Hour” and has personally encouraged Paramount owner Larry Ellison to bring the new film to life.

Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan’s “Rush Hour” series has generated tons of laughs and nearly $850 million at the global box office. While talks of a fourth film have been ongoing since at least 2008, there’s one person who might want the movie more than Tucker or Chan: President Donald Trump.

According to Semafor, Trump hopes newly minted Paramount owner Larry Ellison can revive “Rush Hour” as Ellison also stands in line to offer a large bid for Warner Bros. Discovery. Warner Bros. was the distributor for the first three “Rush Hour” films. 

Trump, a long-time fan of ’80s and ’90s action movies, particularly loves “Rush Hour” and has personally encouraged Ellison to bring the new film to life.

Trump’s connections to the “Rush Hour” franchise extend beyond his being a fan of the buddy-cop movie that packed action, comedy, and jokes about Black and Asian stereotypes into three films. The franchise’s director, Brett Ratner, recently directed a documentary about relatively private First Lady Melania Trump for Amazon, which will air on the streaming platform in 2026. 

If the film came to pass, it would be Ratner’s first feature film since 2014’s “Hercules” starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. 

In May, Chan discussed the possibilities of a fourth “Rush Hour” movie while promoting “Karate Kid: Legends.”

“The script is still going on. I want to do a Rush Hour 4,” he told Screen Rant. 

As for when the film would arrive, Chan didn’t have a solid answer. “I don’t know. Ask the director, ask the studio, ask the writer,” he said. “Hurry up! Otherwise, Chris Tucker and me [will be] 100 years old. We’ll be old men doing Rush Hour.”

After the original film premiered in 1998, the sequel dropped in 2001, earning $50 million in its opening weekend. “Rush Hour 3” arrived in 2007 to a softer first week at the box office but still made $140 million in its theatrical run. A short-lived TV series titled “Rush Hour” lasted all of one season in 2016.

The discussions around a fourth film picked up again in 2019 when Tucker shared a photo of himself and Chan on Instagram, both holding up four fingers as a tease. Last summer, the project was rumored to have been shopped around various studios, with execs wary of working with Ratner, who was accused of multiple instances of sexual harassment and misconduct in 2017.

However, given the changes in the media landscape and the revival of old film franchises, this might be the thing that gets Tucker and Chan playing James Carter and Inspector Lee one final time.