A rumor popped up back in June (via Latino Review's El Mayimbe) that the reason Universal delayed their BOURNE LEGACY sequel from 2015 to 2016 was that they were accommodating the schedule of their returning star, Matt Damon. No one commented on the prospective Aaron Cross/Jason Bourne crossover all summer, but now, we know what's up.
There's no crossover: Universal has pushed back their Renner-led LEGACY follow-up indefinitely, and have given its July 15, 2016 date to a third Matt Damon/Paul Greengrass Jason Bourne solo flick.
Justin Lin still is expected to direct his sequel to THE BOURNE LEGACY, but Greengrass and Damon will knock this one out in the interim while Lin is busy with a handful of other projects, apparently including working on season 2 of TRUE DETECTIVE.
Damon and Greengrass are both very much still A-listers, and while they haven't had any hits as sizable as their BOURNE entries in the years since, there doesn't seem to be a pressing financial reason to hit that well again. Greengrass and Damon have, for years, maintained they were done with this franchise, with Damon repeating that he wouldn't even consider returning without the director, but now they're going to get this in theaters in less than 2 years from now. The official story is that Greengrass has finally been convinced that there's more story to tell, even though former amnesiac Jason Bourne has regained his memory and successfully went "off the grid."
But I'm thinking the motivation is closer to this:
Personally, as much as I like to watch Matt Damon, once described by Paul Rudd in 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN as "kind of a Streisand," kicking ass and taking names, I agreed with the previous notion that his story was all but done. Hell, I thought ULTIMATUM was already the character's victory lap, as it tied up his story using ideas we'd already kind of assumed while providing the same exact type of shakycam mayhem as SUPREMACY. The first two-thirds of LEGACY convinced me it'd overtake IDENTITY as my favorite of the franchise, before slavishly (and pointlessly) repeating the chase-through-the-city aesthetic of the prior films in its climax. I don't think neither character is begging for another go-around, but I guess it makes just as much sense to bring Jason Bourne back as Aaron Cross.
Though they say that's their intention, I don't really think they'll end up doing both franchises concurrently, so I'm guessing either Renner as Cross will appear in BOURNE 4 or his series/character will be dropped for good. A team-up between the two Treadstone assassins is kind of the only thing I can think of that would really set this one apart from the previous four BOURNE films; even then, it still kind of sounds like more of the same.
But they really shoved the photography and stunts of the last two films by this pair down our throats in film school, believe it or not, so I know that at least some of you out there are really stoked for another Paul Greengrass Jason Bourne flick.
THE BOURNE FOURTAMATUM runs, drives, shoots, punches, and kicks (and sometimes emotes) on July 15th, 2016.
