'Rush Hour 4': Paramount set to distribute after Trump's reported request

(26 Nov 2025)

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Los Angeles, 26 July 2001
++4:3 MATERIAL++
1. Zoom out on 'Rush Hour' movie poster at premiere
2. Wide of Chris Tucker walking press line
3. Medium of Jackie Chan being interviewed
4. Medium of Bret Ratner speaking

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Los Angeles, 19 January 2017
5. Wide of Hollywood Walk of Fame star reveal
6. Brett Ratner poses with Edward Norton, Dwayne Johnson, Brett Ratner, Eddie Murphy, Brian Grazer, Kevin Tsujihara, Chris Tucker and Russell Simmons
7. Tilt up on Dwayne Johnson, Eddie Murphy, Brett Ratner, Brian Grazer and Kevin Tsujihara
8. Medium, Brett Ratner speaking at podium at Walk of Fame ceremony
9. Various of Brett Ratner signing autographs
10. Brett Ratner kneels on star
STORYLINE:
After President Donald Trump’s reported intervention, Paramount Pictures is set to distribute Brett Ratner’s “Rush Hour 4,” a project that Hollywood had eschewed after earlier sexual misconduct allegations against the director.

Paramount Pictures on Tuesday was in closing talks to distribute the film, according to a person close to the negotiations who requested anonymity because they weren’t authorized to announce a deal. Paramount would be stepping in to take a distribution fee on the film, not finance it.

In 2017, during the #MeToo movement, six women said Ratner sexually harassed them in a Los Angeles Times report. Warner Bros., which had a $450-million co-financing deal with his production company, severed ties with Ratner. Ratner, who denied the allegations, hasn’t produced a film this decade.

But on Sunday, Semafor reported that Trump personally requested Paramount take on “Rush Hour 4.” Paramount recently merged with Skydance in a $8 billion deal that required regulatory approval from the Trump administration. Trump has praised the studio's new chairperson and chief executive David Ellison, the son of Oracle executive chairperson and prominent Trump supporter, Larry Ellison.

The White House didn't immediately comment Wednesday.

Ratner had been shopping “Rush Hour 4” after Warner Bros., which released the three previous films in the franchise, passed on the project. The movie would reteam Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker in the action-comedy series launched in 1998, with sequels in 2001 and 2007.

Ratner has managed to get one other film made: a documentary on first lady Melania Trump. Earlier this year, Amazon MGM Studios acquired the film for a reported $40 million. It’s set to open in theaters Jan. 30.

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