\n\tIn a move sure to send shockwaves thought Hollywood, Paramount is closing in on a deal to distribute Rush Hour 4, which would mark the big studio return of disgraced director Brett Ratner.<\/p>\n
\n\tIf a deal makes, Paramount would be distributing the sequel and would receive a distribution fee. It would not be financing the movie.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe potential film, which would bring back now-aging stars Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker, would be Ratner\u2019s first narrative feature since being accused of sexual misconduct in 2017. <\/p>\n
After a career as a successful music video and commercial director, Ratner\u2019s big break came with the first\u00a0Rush Hour\u00a0film in 1998. He directed the next two movies, with a collective franchise gross of more than $500\u202fmillion at the domestic box office alone.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tHe was banished from Hollywood in 2017, when six women accused Ratner of sexual misconduct as part of a\u00a0Los Angeles Times\u00a0report<\/a>. The story included allegations of forced oral sex by actress Natasha\u202fHenstridge, while Olivia\u202fMunn claimed that the director masturbated in front of her after she was tasked with delivering food to his trailer on set when she was an aspiring actress. (Ratner has denied wrongdoing.)<\/p>\n \n\tRatner has remained a point of controversy for years, with no studio willing to hire him for any project or tackle a Rush Hour 4. Still, he and his partners have continued to shop the project to studios and streamers, including Sony and Lionsgate, as well as Paramount under its previous administration. (Last year, multiple sources told\u00a0The Hollywood Reporter\u00a0<\/a>that Warner Bros., the longtime distributor of the\u00a0Rush Hour\u00a0films that were homegrown by Warners\u2019 New Line Cinema division, allowed\u00a0Rush Hour\u202f4\u00a0to be licensed elsewhere years prior.)<\/p>\n \n\tRatner got a foothold back in Hollywood earlier this year, when it was announced that Ratner would direct a documentary about First Lady Melania Trump<\/a> that was acquired for releases by Amazon. The doc from Ratner<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 his first film since he was accused of sexual misconduct and harassment \u2014 has been produced with Trump\u2019s participation. The film will later be accompanied by a three-part docuseries.<\/p>\n \n\tTrump may have held the keys to Ratner\u2019s Rush Hour reversal of fortune. The move reporteldy comes after a push from President Donald Trump, who has strong ties to Larry Ellison and son David Ellison, the latter who runs Skydance, Paramount\u2019s new owner. Semafor Media<\/a> reported Sunday that Trump personally pressed Paramount to revive Rush Hour (as well as Jean-Claude Van Damme actioner Bloodsport) as the Ellisons eye an acquisition of Warner Bros.<\/p>\n \n\tPuck was first to break the news of the impending Rush Hour 4 deal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a move sure to send shockwaves thought Hollywood, Paramount is closing in on a deal to distribute…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":283243,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[113159,6491,96,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-283242","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-brett-ratner","9":"tag-celebrities","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom","13":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=283242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283242\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/283243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=283242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=283242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=283242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}