So We’re Just Letting Donald Trump Greenlight Major Motion Pictures Now, Huh

In the course of his second term, Donald Trump has already pioneered countless new ways to use the office of the Presidency for aims such as personal enrichment via absurd cryptocurrency schemes, vengeance upon his perceived enemies, or simple aggrandizement via projects like his ever-more-expensive White House ballroom. But even in this cavalcade of horror and absurdity, nothing stands out as quite such a comically misplaced use of the executive branch than Trump leveraging the power of the presidency to … make additional films in the Rush Hour action comedy franchise? Surely, you’d think, this can’t be a serious priority of Donald John Trump, to see another martial arts action comedy in a dated series that last hit theaters some 18 years ago, in 2007. And yet: Not 48 hours after weekend headlines suggested that Trump was personally lobbying Paramount Skydance owner Larry Ellison for a long-belated Rush Hour 4, the entertainment press is already reporting that Paramount is getting the ball rolling on moving the project into production.

Nor is this project intended to be some kind of wan remake or prequel: Rush Hour 4 would reportedly feature returning franchise stars Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker as their buddy cop characters, Lee and Carter. Chan’s involvement actually makes some sense: Despite being 71 years old, the relatively spry Chan is still an action comedy fixture, appearing in the likes of May’s Karate Kid: Legends or Hong Kong actioners like 2025’s The Shadow’s Edge, where he’s still doing plenty of fight scenes and stunts. Tucker, on the other hand, has been missing in action from Hollywood for almost as long as the gap in Rush Hour films: In the 18 years since Rush Hour 3, he’s had precisely zero starring roles in a Hollywood film, although he’s been in supporting roles in the likes of Air or the glorious bomb of Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk. Generating more headlines, meanwhile, and lending more of a hint at Trump’s intent, is the return of Rush Hour helmer Brett Ratner to the director’s chair: Ratner has been effectively banished from Hollywood since being accused of sexual harassment by six actresses in 2017, and hasn’t directed a film since 2014’s Dwayne Johnson-starring Hercules. He’s clearly been able to schmooze with the First Family, however, in the course of directing Amazon MGM Studio’s Melania documentary, which is hitting U.S. theaters in January. With the President’s muscle, Ratner clearly saw his opportunity to worm his way back into Hollywood.

This of course becomes the primary theme involved on every level of creating a Rush Hour 4: Trump cronies lining up to fete the notoriously easy to flatter President. Paramount, which was recently acquired by Skydance, is now headed by chairman and CEO David Ellison, the son of big time Trump donor Larry Ellison. Said merger was approved by the Trump administration, conveniently after Paramount Global settled a lawsuit with Trump and paid $16 million directly to his future presidential library. Critics, including U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, were quick to call out the effective bribe, as Wyden wrote at the time: “Paramount just paid Trump a bribe for merger approval. When Democrats retake power, I’ll be first in line calling for federal charges. In the meantime, state prosecutors should make the corporate execs who sold out our democracy answer in court, today.”

Given that Paramount is also one of the official bidders for Warner Bros. Discovery, which will be getting first-dollar gross on Rush Hour 4, it feels like just one more instance of Ellison’s company sucking up to Trump at a time when they might need the support of federal regulators.

But beyond that: How absurd, purely on the face of it, is it to see headlines about a major motion picture immediately going into production, reviving an old franchise, just because the President of the United States said that it should happen? Is there any corner of popular culture or daily life where the Trump administration doesn’t crave hegemony? Imagine how stupid this news would sound if thrust into another time period: Say it’s 1998, and news breaks that Star Wars: The Phantom Menace has been greenlit specifically because Bill Clinton has demanded to return to a galaxy far, far away. Although to complete the analogy, George Lucas and 20th Century Fox would also have to be major Clinton donors seeking favors from the executive branch. Thankfully, this is all just speculative fiction, yeah?

When Rush Hour 4 does finally slither into theaters (he won’t be watching at the destroyed White House movie theater), one can only hope that Trump can summon the steely discipline to stay awake through the entire thing.

How will he make it through Rush Hour 4?

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— Anthony Michael Kreis (@anthonymkreis.bsky.social) Nov 25, 2025 at 7:55 PM