The movie Jackie Chan knew was doomed from the start: “Too much money is no good”
In 1998, Jackie Chan ended up in a buddy comedy about two cops from very different backgrounds that solidified him as a global star away from his home base.
By the late 1970s and early 1980s, Chan was already capturing attention with his unique and often death-defying blend of stunts, martial arts, and physical comedy in China or Hong Kong, making it only a matter of time before his talents travelled westwards, which happened in the form of Rush Hour.
Chan’s performance as chief inspector Lee and his undeniable chemistry with Chris Tucker made the first Rush Hour box office catnip, and its runaway success meant there would be a sequel, and three years later, Rush Hour 2 once again made a boatload of cash for all involved. Chan and Tucker teamed up one last time in 2007 to round out the success with a trilogy; however, their partnership couldn’t carry through, and audiences didn’t bite as hard the third time around.
Negative reviews and relatively poor box office returns (it still made $258million from a budget of $125m to 180m) left Rush Hour 3 out in the cold, with many theories as to why it underperformed, from a subpar script to a general fatigue surrounding the franchise being cited, yet if you ask one of its stars, then one thing and one thing only was to blame.
“You know what, the first one: little money, little time,” Chan said in an interview with Buzzfeed in which he was surrounded by puppies, for some gleeful reason, “We shot it like, ‘Go, go, go, go!’ The second one: a lot of money, a lot of time. The third one: too much money, too much time… Too much money is no good.”
The first ‘Rush Hour’ film had a budget of between $33m and $35m and made about $245m at the box office, which is roughly the same amount as the threequel on roughly four to six times less money. As for Rush Hour 2, that had a more substantial $90m, but earned the most in the trilogy at $347m. In theory, Rush Hour 3 should have done even better with even more money, but, as we know, that wasn’t the case.
Regardless, it’s also important to note that he has never been a fan of the franchise that helped make his name, and while he might be on to something about the third film’s inflated budget, the veteran star might also be biased: if he doesn’t like Rush Hour, then he’ll probably find it easier to talk negatively about it. The truth is, Rush Hour 3 brought nothing new to the franchise, whereas the first film was innovative, and almost a decade later, with an audience much more attuned to Chan’s schtick, it lacked that same appeal.
It might not have gone out with a bang, but the Rush Hour franchise is still massively important for how it introduced Chan to a wider audience, and with talks of a fourth film, perhaps it will have a chance to redeem itself one day.
