Well, another day has passed and another Jackie Chan film is currently in the works, and in this instance you would be forgiven for thinking this was too good to be true. Only it isn’t false, which for Chan-heads is probably not at all bad.
For 60-ish Guinness world record-holding martial arts star and legendary action cinema mainstay Jackie Chan, any talk of retirement has always been suspect considering the workload he continues to mount for himself. The 2012 release of Chinese Zodiac ’12 – CZ12, followed by Police Story 2013 and the recent box office success of director Daniel Lee’s record period epic, Dragon Blade, are all prime examples of Chan‘s fortitude in what seems to be a non-ending growth in career, which has always left a daunting affect on any discussion regarding whether or not he would turn the page on doing films for good considering his age.
Chan himself has spoken to the press in recent years about the subject with regard to the caliber and danger level of his signature action and stuntwork his career has become so known and celebrated for, and for his age it obviously makes sense that he would express an interest in taking some kind of a break. However, it appears the enduring work ethic of folks like Clint Eastwood and Sylvester Stallone have had an affect on Chan as both continue to work, with Stallone working on Creed and Scarpia this year and Eastwood’s recent directorial success on American Sniper. As such, Chan‘s statements quoted in a new article over at translatory Chinese news site, Jaynestars, are now hinting at otherwise continued plans for a follow-up to Armour Of God 3 (a.k.a. CZ12), a third ‘Shanghai’ movie proceeding Shanghai Noon (2000) and Shanghai Knights (2003), and a fourth Rush Hour movie.
Chan himself hasn’t really done a Hollywood film since 2010 with The Spy Next Door and Kung Fu Panda 2, the latter sharing production weight with Shanghai-based Oriental Dreamworks. That’s about five years, and so it is nice to see that the studios in Hollywood partly responsible in helping him cross over in the late 1990’s still see him as a viable star for American audiences. Plus, a forth Rush Hour film (aside from the new CBS series starring Jon Foo coming soon), and a third stint with actor Owen Wilson for Shanghai 3 have been in development hell since the relative preceding titles hit the big screen.
Needless to say, there will be more Chan. Director Renny Harlin’s latest with the actor in Skiptrace is still in post-production with the remaining possibility of Karate Kid 2 with Jaden Smith; Really, that latter title makes a total of four movies in development (five if you count his possible return to the vocal role of Monkey on Kung Fu Panda 3 in 2016), although time will tell as always. And at this rate, don’t be surprised if Dragon Blade gets a sequel greenlit. Early? Yes. Unlikely? Well, we’re talking Jackie freaking Chan here so…whatever.
Stay tuned for more info.