Rumours have been rife that the most dysfunctional yet effective secret agent – Jason Bourne – is to return to the big screen in 2016 after an absence of what would be nine years.
Rumours have been rife that the most dysfunctional yet effective secret agent – Jason Bourne – is to return to the big screen in 2016 after an absence of what would be nine years.
The Hollywood entertainment news site, Deadline, has reported that those rumours may come to fruition with talks between Matt Damon, director Paul Greengrass and Universal on-going. Deadline report that Universal are being ‘bullish’ about the fourth movie and are eager to get it made.
Damon, 43, starred as Jason Bourne, the CIA agent who had lost his memory while part of government undercover operations Treadstone and Blackbriar. He’s a fighting machine who is near susceptible to pain and the symbol for hope among corruption.
He played the part in the Bourne Trilogy which grossed over $1 billion (£615.1 million) before taking a breaking which allowed for the spin off The Bourne Legacy in 2012. He had stated that he wouldn’t return to the series unless director Paul Greengrass was also on board and despite The Bourne Legacy offering a new twist to the Bourne story, fans were always hoping for the return of Damon.
A sequel to the Bourne Legacy, which featured Jeremy Renner as agent Aaron Cross and Rachel Weisz as his sidekick, had been in pre-production with Fast and Furious director Justin Lin taking charge and a release date was set for July 2016.
Keenly moving ahead
But there are now reports that The Bourne Legacy sequel will be pushed back and Universal are steaming ahead with the fourth Jason Bourne episode which if things go to plan will be in cinemas on July 16th 2016.
Both Damon and Greengrass had been wary of returning to the trilogy which are based on the novels by Robert Ludlum due to the fact that in the Bourne Ultimatum, Bourne had regained his memory and found out the truth about who and what he was.
But Universal were always keen as were the fans of series and the fleeting mention of Jason Bourne in the Bourne Legacy just didn’t quite fill the void. If anything the £276m that Legacy grossed undoubtedly confirmed that there was still a mass audience of Bourne fans out there.
It’s still yet to be confirmed but Hollywood seems confident that this really happening but the worry for fans will be that a fourth film could tarnish what has been an award winning trilogy. However with both Damon and Greengrass on board there is excitement to see just where the series goes next.
What do you think of Jason Bourne’s potential return? What do you think the next movie could be called? Let us know in the comments below.
