BOURNE Again - Damon, Greengrass Sign Up for 2016

[AndyDursin]

Another sequel nobody is asking for!

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/n ... ers-661125

Justin Lin's untitled Bourne film will open in theaters Aug. 14, 2015. The next chapter in the action-spy franchise returns Jeremy Renner in the role of Aaron Cross following the 2012 box office success of The Bourne Legacy.

It's the first time Lin has directed a Bourne pic for Universal. He's most famous for directing the Fast & Furious movies, but isn't at the helm of Fast & Furious 7, which has become shrouded in tragedy following the death of Paul Walker in a car crash during a hiatus from shooting.

Longtime Bourne producer Frank Marshall is returning for the next installment, and will produce alongside Jeffrey Weiner and Ben Smith for Captivate. Lin will also produce for his Perfect Storm Entertainment.

Inspired by author Robert Ludlum's book series, the Bourne film franchise underwent a major transformation with the departure of star Matt Damon and arrival of Renner in the lead role in The Bourne Legacy.

Universal also announced a Aug. 8, 2014 release date for Luc Besson's Lucy, starring Scarlett Johansson and Morgan Freeman. The action-thriller, produced by Virginie Besson-Silla and Besson's EuropaCorp, follows a woman who turns the tables on her captors and transforms into a merciless warrior.

[John Johnson]

I'm happy enough with the first three.

[Monterey Jack]

The last one was the only one I liked.

[Paul MacLean]

I really liked the first one, loathed the second one. Never saw the third since #2 left such a bad taste in my mouth.

[AndyDursin]

I really liked the first one, loathed the second one. Never saw the third since #2 left such a bad taste in my mouth.

The third is pretty solid. Much better than the second and does come to a natural end for Damons character. I disliked the second picture like you did but would recommend the third one.

[DavidBanner]

I really see no point to further movies with Jeremy Renner's character. The last one just felt like they were marking time waiting for Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass to come back. With this one, I can't imagine what new story they've found. They've already blown the conspiracy up so far that pretty much everyone who's ever worked for the government must have been involved with Treadstone somehow...

[AndyDursin]

I really see no point to further movies with Jeremy Renner's character. The last one just felt like they were marking time waiting for Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass to come back. With this one, I can't imagine what new story they've found. They've already blown the conspiracy up so far that pretty much everyone who's ever worked for the government must have been involved with Treadstone somehow...

Once again we could call this THE BOURNE OBLIGATION (or really the BOURNE OBLIGATION II!).

I also see no point in this sequel -- few people liked LEGACY, it didn't shatter any records at the box office -- but I'm wagering it did enough with international receipts to justify its existence. Maybe Universal is so sequel crazy after the F&F movies continue to rake in the cash that they feel these films will just keep on going...even though there's no story or hook here to warrant it. The last movie really felt like retread city.

Just for comparison's sake -

BOURNE ULTIMATUM - $443 mil worldwide (227 million U.S.)
BOURNE LEGACY - $276 mil worldwide (113 million U.S.)

and that doesn't include 5 years of inflation added onto the latter...so it does feel like diminishing returns...but I guess they're willing to try it.

[DavidBanner]

I think they were hoping that Damon and Greengrass would return, or that they could somehow get Damon back without Greengrass. I'm sure Damon reminded them what he told them 6 years ago - he would NOT do another one of these movies unless it was with Greengrass and if they had worked out a good story idea.

Given that they can't get either Damon or Greengrass to do this anymore, it's clear they're hoping to come up with something interesting with Renner and Lin. My instincts say this one will do less business than the last one unless they can come up with something of a real story.

[mkaroly]

I enjoyed all of them, so I would go and see another one if it came out. Nothing tops the first one though - clearly for me it is the best of the series. Loved the third one as well. The second and fourth were okay but not as good as the first and third. They are on an odd numbered movie so I think it will be good!!! Lol....

[Eric W.]

Good. I like Renner in some ways better than Damon.

[AndyDursin]

I think they were hoping that Damon and Greengrass would return, or that they could somehow get Damon back without Greengrass. I'm sure Damon reminded them what he told them 6 years ago - he would NOT do another one of these movies unless it was with Greengrass and if they had worked out a good story idea.

Given that they can't get either Damon or Greengrass to do this anymore, it's clear they're hoping to come up with something interesting with Renner and Lin. My instincts say this one will do less business than the last one unless they can come up with something of a real story.

I'm also surprised Lin opted to go with this. He's a director on the rise, he was (still is?) attached to the Terminator sequel...sure that's also a long-running series but I see a lot more potential for a director to do something fresh with it as opposed to the Bourne movies. They're all so formulaic that there's not much he can do to jazz it up, unless it's a stark departure (which it likely won't be).

You wonder if they aren't thinking they can still tie it in with Damon returning. It's not as if most of Damon's recent movies have lit up the box-office either. At some point he'll want to cash in again -- and Universal will be ready for him, lol. Maybe this is, again, just them keeping the series going with the hopes he'll eventually come back.

[Mike Skerritt]

I'm surprised to see the apathy (or loathing) for SUPREMACY, which for my money is one of the best action movies of the past ten or fifteen years.

I still haven't seen LEGACY so I don't have an educated opinion on the subject, though it's clear Universal will keep running the property into the ground until blood from the stone dries up.

[AndyDursin]

Not so fast...this makes more sense.

http://deadline.com/2014/09/universal-r ... lm-834821/

EXCLUSIVE: Jason Bourne is coming back. Universal Pictures has begun making deals with Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass to reunite for their third film in The Bourne Identity series, sources tell me. This is an absolute stunner — and Universal would not comment nor would the reps — because Greengrass told Deadline as recently as last year that once Bourne regained his memory, there was no place else for the character to go creatively. His search formed the spine for the trilogy Damon starred in.

Well, they’ve figured it out. I’m told that the studio is so bullish on this that the intention is to make the reteam the next Bourne film to go into production to make the July 16, 2016, release slot that Universal had previously assigned to an untitled Bourne film. That means it would step in front of the spinoff sequel that is to reprise Jeremy Renner and be directed by Fast & Furious architect Justin Lin. That film, which began with the Tony Gilroy-directed The Bourne Legacy, remains in development. I thought its premise— Renner plays one of several genetically altered assassins, all of whom are targeted for death — was smart and satisfying on its own. Universal intends to continue that series and to broaden its franchise base, much the way that Marvel cranks out superhero films. The Bourne Legacy was a good start to a new franchise, but Jason Bourne is a hard act to follow. Now, franchise-hungry Universal has both of them. Lin can probably use the time, as he signed on to direct the second season of the HBO series True Detective.

[Eric W.]

I'm a Bourne fan so we'll see what happens here.


I really liked Renner and what they did there as well. I said earlier in the thread that in some ways I actually like Renner more than Damon and I stand by that.


The problem here potentially is, like so many other things, going to the well too many times and running something into the ground.

If they play it right they can have their own "de facto Bond" franchise with its own slant and its own thing.

If they screw it up? We'll have a bunch of mediocre sequels and it will die eventually.