President Donald Trump urged Paramount to relaunch the Rush Hour action/comedy franchise, almost 20 years after Rush Hour 3 last hit theaters. The first movie in the series used a $35 million budget and grossed $245 million. The third installment used a budget between $125 and $180 million and brought in $258 million, which means it likely lost some money. It also wasn’t well received by audiences.
However, we're living in a period of time where nostalgia is king. Everyone longs for the good old days of the '80s and '90s when life was simpler. You know, when all rational human beings assumed that a man wearing a dress and claiming to be a woman was a few marbles short of a full bag. Thus, there's little doubt Rush Hour 4 would make money.
While Jackie Chan is 71 and Chris Tucker is 54, that means little in an age where action legends like Sylvester Stallone, 79, still kick butt in shoot 'em ups on a regular basis. Yeah, there's definitely still an audience for the Rush Hour franchise. In fact, I'd say folks are starving for Hollywood to start producing this type of content again. For an industry obsessed with money, it should be a no-brainer.
I bet the real question baking your noodle is why Trump would be interested in seeing another installment of the franchise. Well, director Brett Ratner recently made a documentary film — on a $40 million budget — about First Lady Melania Trump, who also served as one of the producers on the movie. Amazon bought the rights for the movie, which takes a deeper look inside her life as she "orchestrates inauguration plans, navigates the complexities of the White House transition, and reenters public life with her family. With exclusive footage capturing critical meetings, private conversations, and never-before-seen environments, Melania showcases Mrs. Trump’s return to one of the world’s most powerful roles.”
The documentary will hit theaters in January and will then stream exclusively on Amazon Prime. Another connection Ratner has with the president is the 2011 comedy smash Tower Heist. The movie filmed in Trump Tower. But that's not likely the only reason Trump is showing interest in seeing Rush Hour 4 become a reality. There's probably a cultural reason too.
Part of what endeared the film franchise to viewers was the clash of cultures between Chan and Tucker, which came long before woke cancel culture deemed every breath we take as racist. The movie broke down barriers by showing how people from different walks of life still have common ground with each other. It helped us come together and laugh at ourselves, according to John Nolte of Breitbart.
Nolte points out that movies like Rush Hour help us see what we have in common rather than utilizing racial differences to drive us apart. We desperately need more of that right now. And Trump, who is fairly culturally savvy, recognizes that. So perhaps the biggest reason to see films like this get made is to help heal the deep division sown by the woke mob, who infiltrated every facet of culture and turned tearing people apart into an art form. Either way, I love to laugh, so I'm always in the mood for a well-done comedy.
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