Tucker Rushing Back to "Hour"
Chris Tucker's stuck in a Rush Hour rut--a lucrative rut, to be sure, but a rut nonetheless.
Tucker is in talks with New Line to cash another $20 million-plus paycheck to reprise his trash-talking cop role in Rush Hour 3, according to Daily Variety. Assuming he will sign on the dotted line (and all indications are he will), Tucker will be making just his third movie since 1998. The other two: Rush Hour and Rush Hour 2.
Of course, even though he hasn't played any part other than the streetwise, wise-assed LAPD Detective James Carter in recent years, Tucker doesn't exactly need the work. He earned $3 million in salary for the original Rush Hour and $20 million for the second, plus undisclosed millions more in backend dollars.
The first film, a 1998 action-comedy mismatching Tucker and Jackie Chan as L.A. and Hong Kong detectives forced to team up on a case, was budgeted at $35 million and grossed more than $140 million domestically; the 2001 sequel brought everyone back at a cost of $90 million but did even better business, taking in more than $226 million at the North American box office.
Once Tucker's done hammering out his "eight-figure deal," Variety says New Line will go after costar Chan, who earned $15 million upfront for Rush Hour 2 and would likely be offered a slight increase plus points.
Brett Ratner, who helmed the first two Rush Hours, is already onboard to direct the third. He's reportedly polishing the script (by Jeff Eastin, Ross LaManna and Jason Richman) as you read this, but the start date is still up in the air.
Rush Hour 3 had initially been slated to go into production for a 2004 release. Ratner had cleared out his calendar in March, when he dropped out of the big-screen revival of Superman ostensibly to begin prep work on the latest Rush Hour. Now, though, there's a potential hitch. Ratner is in negotiations to helm MGM's sequel to Get Shorty, and if he seals that deal, Rush Hour 3 could be pushed back to a 2005 premiere.
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