I just hope they find a way for Chris Penn's
character to do some sort of cameo.
I had heard that Chris Tucker wanted some outragous amount of money, like twice Jackie Chan's salary... Was'nt he the highest paid African American for a while at 20 mill?
Tucker got 20m (?!?!?!?!?!?!) against 20% of the gross, Chan got 15/15, and Ratner got 7/7. If the film does not get made, Tucker and Chan will still get paid. I'm not certain about Ratner. I'm waiting for some kind of explanation that REMOTELY justifies Tucker's paycheck.
He is a big box office draw (at least in association with this title) and the movie is expected to make a boatload of $$$ thanks to him? Like it or not, this series has been immensely succesful so far.
Without Tucker, chance are this would be "just another Jackie Chan flick", and those gross nowhere close to what Rush Hour brings in.
While I haven't seen the sequel, I remember enjoying the original. The formula isn't very difficult to replicate, and looking the numbers, it works. From a studio point of view, until it gets stale (part deux made 200+M, we're not there yet...), this is as close to risk-free as they come.
I liked the first one, tolerated the second one and have absolutely NO desire to see the third one. It looks beyond horrible and proves that Brett Ratner is the biggest hack working in Hollywood today. Now excuse me while I go perform a home labotomy to get that trailer out of my head.