Sometimes a news story just slips past me – I mean to write about it but then other things get in the way and it never happens. But this news story intrigued me enough that I filed it away in my mental storehouse and now, on this fine Sunday afternoon, I will bring you my thoughts on it.
Universal is making a big investment in the Bourne franchise – they’ve signed a deal with the Robert Ludlum estate to get them the rights to the Bourne books for just about ever, and they also have a first look deal on other Ludlum books. Universal is now the House of Ludlum.
This is weird news. The Bourne films felt very finished with the excellent Bourne Ultimatum. The fact that Paul Greengrass and Matt Damon are coming back for a fourth isn’t my favorite news item of the year, but with these two comes a lot of faith – you know that they aren’t just jumping back into the franchise for the dough. They feel that there’s some story worth telling there.
But beyond the fourth film? The Variety article about this deal mentions Bourne becoming Universal’s James Bond franchise – a seemingly infinite strip of stories that just keep going along. That’s troubling, as the beauty of the Bourne films has been that they tell the story of a character and don’t just feature interchangeable adventures.
The biggest question becomes what happens after Bourne Zoso? Does Damon stay on (it’s hard to imagine Greengrass still sticking with the franchise, but who knows) and do a sextuplet of Bourne films, or does he turn into this franchise’s Sean Connery?
15 comments
I wish they'd leave it be – they made a good trilogy, and that's rare. How many good 'part fours' are there?
Hmmm, i dunno… I found "dirty cheerleaders 4" to be a particularly insightful and thought provoking piece of work. But thn i'd missed the first three, so i didn't really understand the character arcs…
I thinks it'll be cool. Even if the quality dips, and it has to at some point, we still have the great 1st 3 films which I personally never get tired of rewatching. I just hope Bourne doesn't end up in space ever. Oh and thanks for the laugh shoveller.
Uh-oh, BeardFat isn't liking this news, Universal. Get Seth Rogen attached as Bourne's new sidekick, quickly!
Well, there is some room for at least one more film. We learn in Supremacy that his real name is Jason Webb and in Ultimatum he volunteered to become an assassin. That's just about it – we don't learn very much at all as to *why* he did this. Having said that, if they make a big mess of a more detailed explanation, then it would be better not to know.
But given their track record so far, I feel confident (hopefully not naively) that they'll get it right.
Please get rid of the talkbacks. Please.
I hope the next one they make is not actually a bore to sit through with shaky cam action scenes that make me dizzy.
And do not get rid of the talkbacks. Its great.
Re: Indoorsman. I really like Friday the 13th part 4.
There was barely a story in the three films. But another score by John Powell would be nice
Andy! (Guitar Riff) Andy don'tcha' use that scro-ller! (Guitar Riff) Coz there's not any-thing, (Guitar Riff) that you hafta read-here! (Tempo Change) We won't giiiive uh-uh-up, we'll keep posting-til-you're-on-your-knees – we won't give up, so youbedda, youbedda run for you liiiife!! (Phil goes crazy on drums)
Yeah Andy, they should get rid of the comments section because there isn't enough pathetic ass kissing and brown nosing on here like there is on the forums.
Rocky 4 was the best movie ever when I was 7. "Thers no easy way out…..theres no short cut home……theres no easy way …..giving in can be wrong"
Top notch reporting CHUD! to bad this was already posted on AICN.
I can see the names of the next few now…
STILL BOURNE!
BOURNE AGAIN!
Thought the third movie was a mess, personally, so a bad fourth won't come as much of a surprise.
Having Greengrass on board gives it potential, sure; his other three movies are amazing; but I'm having difficulty figuring out how they're going to get Bourne back to being Bourne without short-changing earlier entries in the series.
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