Anyone who’s seen The Bourne Ultimatum can’t deny that its creators left it wide open for a fourth installment of the hit franchise, despite Matt Damon’s statement that “We have ridden that horse as far as we can.” So it should come as no surprise that Variety magazine reported last week that Damon and director Paul Greengrass have once again signed on with Universal Pictures to continue the saga of Jason Bourne’s international adventures.
Actor and director had both insisted that neither would even consider the idea unless the other was on board. Now that they’ve jumped in, however, no release date has been set for Bourne 4 due to their equally busy schedules. Another collaborative project, Green Zone, is currently in production, and each has announced at least one more project, The Informant for Damon and They Marched into Sunlight for Greengrass.
Although no specifics have been released about the plot, it’s reasonable to suspect it could be based loosely on Eric Van Lustbader’s novel The Bourne Legacy. Robert Ludlum wrote The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum, the books on which the first three films were based. After Ludlum’s death in 2001 and with the permission of his estate, Lustbader has continued the series.
The announcement of the next Bourne thriller ironically coincides with the news that its predecessor won Academy Awards for all three categories in which it was nominated: Best Film Editing, Best Sound, Best Sound Editing.
