Just a couple days a go, we learned that Universal finally rounded up
Paul Greengrass and
Matt Damon to
get together another film for the
Jason Bourne franchise that kicked off in 2002 with
The Bourne Identity. At the time, it was reported that the film would replace the previously set release of
The Bourne Legacy sequel directed by
Justin Lin and starring
Jeremy Renner on
July 16th, 2016, pushing back the spin-off franchise to an unknown time. However, it sounds like all these factors are still up in the air as producer
Frank Marshall was asked about the status of the
Legacy sequel and said, "It's still in development. We're working to get a script as soon as possible." So what's up with Jason Bourne?
Read on!
Marshall told
THR it's still early days on the reunion of Greengrass and Damon for more Bourne, and there's no deals in place for them yet. So the plan is for both Bourne projects to continue development and the logistics of their arrival won't be a concern until either of them is ready to go in front of a camera. The other factor in play here is that Greengrass has been working on getting the
Olympic bombing drama The Ballad of Richard Jewell with Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill off the ground at Fox, but the studio is still mulling over a greenlight. Some even say that this Bourne buzz might be a way for Greengrass to get Fox to finally make a decision as to whether the other project will go ahead.
So as of now, it's unclear if either film will be ready for the previously set summer 2016 release date that was specifically staked out for some kid of Bourne film. What's interesting is that THR cautions, "Let's hope Matt Damon and Jeremy Renner don't bump into each other at a restaurant." That implies that the two may not be so friendly with each other over this latest development, maybe because Universal quickly became more interested in Damon's return as Jason Bourne as opposed to Renner's spin-off franchise. That would certainly feel like a slap to the face after putting faith in the actor by casting him to begin with. Anyway, we'll just have to wait and see how all this business plays out.