Sequel Bits: 'Rush Hour 4,' 'Fast And Furious 9' Director, 'Jay And Silent Bob Reboot' And More
In this edition of Sequel Bits:
After years of gridlock, Rush Hour 4 is finally happening. More than 10 years after martial arts legend Jackie Chan and frantic comedian Chris Tucker teamed up as a cross-cultural crime-fighting team in Rush Hour 3, Chan has confirmed that Rush Hour 4 is in development.
Chan told L.A. radio show Power 106's The Cruz Show that a script is nearly finished, and Rush Hour 4 could start filming as early as next year:
"For the last seven years, we've been turning down the script, turning down the script. Yesterday, we just agreed... The script probably at the end of this month will have a second draft, and next year, probably [we will] start. I hope — if Chris Tucker agrees."
Hopefully Tucker will agree to recapture the comedy magic — as well as director Brett Ratner who directed the previous three. Though he may be a little busy with his perplexing Hugh Hefner passion project.
Buried amid the news of a Hobbs and Shaw Fast and Furious spin-off was a report that Fast and Furious 9 may have found a director. Justin Lin, who rejuvenated the struggling Fast and Furious franchise with Tokyo Drift and went on to direct the fourth, fifth, and sixth entries of the series, is apparently the top choice to direct the ninth film. Sources told The Hollywood Reporter that Fast and Furious 9's release date was pushed back to 2020 was to accommodate Lin's schedule.
A post shared by Kevin Smith (@thatkevinsmith) on
The Jay and Silent Bob reboot is gearing up to start shooting, with director Kevin Smith posting on social media that he is scouting locations for the film. Smith confirmed that production will start in January 2018, and that the new film will be a sequel to 2001's Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Smith wrote on Instagram (seen above):
Preliminary location scouting for [Jay and SilentBob] shoot starts at my cradle of civilization – the mighty Quick Stop in Leonardo, NJ. My entire career came out of this store and yet I had no idea when I applied for a job there in 1989 that Quick Stop would eventually give me way more than the $5-an-hour job I was hoping to score: it'd give me a career in film, while securing for the convenience store a place in pop culture history!
Smith also tweeted about his Quick Stop visit, reminiscing, "In an alternate reality, I'm still working at Quick Stop."
In an alternate reality, I'm still working at Quick Stop. But today, I only visited the home of Clerks to scout for #JayAndSilentBobReboot! pic.twitter.com/LoB9GauIPl
— KevinSmith (@ThatKevinSmith) October 3, 2017
The Jay and Silent Bob reboot was initially set to be released in theaters in 2018, but will likely be pushed back to a later date. No release date has been confirmed yet.
One movie you won't see Jay and Silent Bob in is Dogma 2, which Kevin Smith shut the door on definitively. At a Q&A at New York Comic-Con, Smith said he had no interest in revisiting his cult comedy Dogma, which starred Matt Damon and Ben Affleck as fallen angels (via ScreenRant):
"Fuck no. I don't think we need a Dogma 2. And I am sure as shit not going near any religious movies at this point."
Without the late Alan Rickman able to reprise his role as the scene-stealing Metatron, this is a good call. There are few actors who can emulate Rickman's dry, beleagured performance, and it feels like the best bet would be to leave Dogma in peace.
There's no question that Arnold Schwarzenegger will be back for the new Terminator sequel. But what of the second most-terrifying villain of the franchise?
At a New York Comic Con roundtable interview for Patrick's upcoming project, Amazon's Lore, Patrick told ScreenRant that he would be willing to return to his role as the T-1000 from T2: Judgment Day:
"Absolutely! Anybody [asks] me to do anything, return anywhere, I am there."
While he hasn't gotten the call from director James Cameron yet, it would be exhilarating to see a reprisal of the stand-off between Patrick's shape-shifting T-1000 and Schwarzenegger's T-800. Patrick has aged quite a bit so he might not be able to reprise the role of the killing machine, but perhaps he could make a cameo in the new sci-fi film.
Two months after star and adrenaline junkie Tom Cruise injured his ankle on the Mission: Impossible 6 set, causing production to be temporarily shut down, Ethan Hunt is back to work.
Rumors swirled that Cruise would be out of commission for four months, but the actor was spotted at the Brentwood, Essex set merely seven weeks after the injury — shooting a flying scene on a helicopter, no less, according to the Daily Mail. Cruise was also seen driving a truck. Not exactly risky business for the actor who has gone above and beyond to endanger his life in the name of jaw-dropping stunts, but still some cause for concern. But you know, it's Cruise, and no one's going to stop him from proving he's still in the prime of life.
Despite Cruise's injury and the brief hiatus, Mission: Impossible 6 is still expected to hit theaters on July 27, 2018.
One of the most profitable horror movies of 2015 is reportedly getting a sequel — which has apparently been filmed in secret.
The entirety of Unfriended was filmed through the perspective of an online chat room, and according to rumors, Unfriended 2 is attempting to capture that same novelty by filming in total secrecy. HorrorFreakNews reported that Unfriended 2 has already been completed and shown to test audiences, where it was "extremely well received."
No details have been confirmed about the horror sequel's cast, crew, director, or release dates. But with test screenings out, we may get a jump scare of Unfriended 2 in theaters soon.
Keanu Reeves has a lot of projects under his belt, but he's still enthusiastic about returning to the action series that gave him a newfound boost in his career. John Wick and its sequel is one of the best pulpy action thrillers in recent memory, and a lot of it is thanks to Reeves' stoic, gruff performance as the titular assassin.
So while he's looking forward with a new kinetic sci-fi film Replicas, or looking back at rumors of a Matrix or Bill and Ted reboot, he's working hard on bringing John Wick 3 to the big screen with director Chad Stahelski — though the pressure to live up to the first and second films has become daunting.
John Wick. John Wick's in trouble! So we've been working on it and I think we have some good ideas. Yeah, some really good ideas. But John's in trouble. Hopefully, we can start shooting that next year. Chad [Stahleski, the director] and I thought it was hard to make a second one. And now we're like... a third one?!
A third one, a possible female-led spin-off, a TV series, and a comic book. You've got this, Keanu.
John Wick 3 is set to hit theaters on May 17, 2019.