Brett Ratner is along for the ride with Donald Trump to China, where he will scout locations for “Rush Hour 4.”
According to The California Post, the director joined Trump on Air Force One on the trip to China. He’ll use the time there to scout for shooting locations for the 19-years-in-the-making sequel after the president previously expressed his love for the film franchise.
Back in November, Semafor reported that the president had privately pushed Paramount Skydance owner David Ellison to bring “Rush Hour” back to theaters after its near two-decade absence. It was later reported Paramount was in talks to release the fourth film through a distribution deal with Warner Bros.
Released in 1998, “Rush Hour” stars Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker as a Hong Kong and Los Angeles cop duo forced to work together to rescue a Chinese diplomat’s abducted daughter. The buddy cop action-comedy elevated Chan’s popularity in the U.S. and spawned a pair of sequels also directed by Ratner in 2001 and 2007. Combined, the “Rush Hour” films have grossed more than $850 million worldwide.
While “Rush Hour 4” has long been in development, it was passed up by multiple studios, including Warner Bros. partner New Line Cinema, in the wake of Ratner’s 2017 sexual assault allegations.
Ratner was behind the Amazon-backed documentary “Melania,” which followed the first lady on her return to the White House for Trump’s second term in office. The film – which earned a heap of negative reviews, including TheWrap calling it a “shallow propaganda puff piece” – had a $40 million budget but was only able to pull in about $16.7 million at the box office through its theatrical run.
According to a list released by the White House, Trump is also being joined on the trip to China by a handful of business leaders, including Apple CEO Tim Cook, Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg, Meta President Dina Powell McCormick and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
The White House didn’t immediately respond for comment.
