The Rush Hour franchise is gearing up for its long-awaited fourth part after almost 18 years. The upcoming film from director Brett Ratner is currently in early development at Paramount, reportedly after an intervention from US President Donald Trump.

According to reports, Trump had lobbied his ally Larry Ellison, the largest shareholder of the now-restructured Paramount-Skydance to bring back the Jackie Chan-Chris Tucker-starring comedy action film. It is to be noted that a number of studios had stepped away from the responsibility of taking up the fourth part including the franchise's banner New Line Cinema. The films were a big boost to Brett Ratner as they had grossed over $850 million globally. However, he was accused of sexual assault by multiple women in 2017. After being sued for defamation by Melanie Kohler, both the parties settled for an agreement in 2018. Since then, he had kept a low profile and stayed away from directing.

Paramount will be financing and distributing Rush Hour 4 on behalf of Warner Bros and the film will reportedly see Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker reprising their roles as Lee and James Carter. Plot and cast details are unknown at the moment. While the first part released in 1998, the second and third hit theatres in 2001 and 2007. All the three were critical and commercial hits, and went on to become fan favourites for the lead actors' camaraderie, action sequences and comic timings.

The re-emergence of the franchise also being looked at as a key political move to affirm what is being called by his peers as "traditional masculinity" in Hollywood, , a campaign that has included appointing Sylvester Stallone, Jon Voight and Mel Gibson as informal “special ambassadors” to the entertainment industry.

Speaking about a possible fourth film of Rush Hour, 71-year-old Jackie Chan, in an earlier interview said, "Ask the director, ask the studio, ask the writer. Hurry up! Otherwise, Chris Tucker and me [will be] 100 years old. We’ll be old men doing Rush Hour."