If there is one thing studios don’t like, it’s having a cash cow franchise sitting idle. When Paul Greengrass walked away from the gestating “Bourne IV” last fall, speculation ran rampant about what Universal was going to do. With Matt Damon’s unwavering loyalty to Greengrass, it was unlikely the studio would be able to convince the actor to come aboard with another director at the helm.
While Damon is no closer to reprising his role as Jason Bourne, a recent comment he made at the U.K. red carpet premiere of “Invictus,” seems to indicate that Universal is still pressing forward.
“There’ll probably be a prequel of some kind with another actor and another director before we do another one, just because I think we’re probably another five years away from doing it – we’ve got to get a script…” said Damon.
But what it really seems to be is Damon speculating. He knows studios don’t want their cash-cow’s simply grazing and it sounds like a cynical comment on the prequel-sequel reboot happy film culture we live in.
It could be an interesting development and one that actually makes a bit of sense. One of the issues that brought “Bourne IV” to a crashing halt were the loggerheads between the studio and Greengrass over script approval that sent the director walking — what does one do now that Jason Bourne is no longer an amnesiac?
So what then? A prequel with a new, younger Bourne that Universal can reboot ala “Spider-Man”? Again, this just seems to be speculation on Damon’s part. Perhaps educated speculation, but we’ve heard a little behind-the-scenes talk from Bourne right now (there was almost something worth reporting in January, but it seems like that tactic has changed) and as far as we know reboots and or prequels are not on the table.
We think the original Bourne trilogy is fine as it is, and don’t particularly see the need for another sequel unless they can really find a great way to continue the story (although, as Damon himself admits, that’s been quite the nut to crack). A prequel is an intriguing way to go that will allow writers to put Bourne into some fresh pre-amnesia adventures, but won’t that spoil what we’ve already seen? Especially with another actor?
We would also imagine that Universal will want each film to be its own self-contained story this time around so they can keep cranking these out every two of three years, eventually turning the character into their own Bond-type franchise.
Here’s the thing, Matt Damon wasn’t paid massive sums for his last few pictures and he hasn’t had a hit in a while. “The Informant,” “Hereafter,” “Invictus,” “Green Zone,” the Coen Brothers’ “True Grit,” “The Adjustment Bureau”? All these films were passion projects, i.e., the ones that came out were not hits and none of them delivered massive pay days. Damon will need a hit project sometime in the near future and if none of these films turn out that way, he may have to return to ‘Bourne’ sooner than he thinks. Or at least his agents will want him to.