Jackie Chan And Owen Wilson Are Returning For ‘Shanghai Dawn’
Jackie Chanquickly rose to fame in the United States in the late 1990s thanks to his co-starring turn alongside Chris Tucker in the action comedyRush Hour, which turned into a franchise. But let’s not forget about the other buddy comedy that Hollywood brought Jackie Chan into alongsideOwen Wilson.Shanghai Noonfollowed Jackie Chan working as an Imperial guard in the Forbidden City of China and is sent into action when Princess Pei Pei is taken hostage to the western frontiers of Nevada. There he convinces a cowboy thief named Roy (Owen Wilson) to help him track down the princess, and of course their contrasting dynamic results in some comedy along with the action. The film was successful enough to warrant a sequel calledShanghai Knightswhich took them to London, and now MGM is keen in getting the duo back together for a third round calledShanghai Dawn.The Hollywood ReporterrevealsShanghai Dawnis back on the table for MGM after the sequel was teased all the way back in 2003 after the release ofShanghai Knights. Reportedly Jackie Chan’s official website at the time even posted details on development of the sequel, but the film never came to fruition.Now the film actually has a director withNapoleon DynamitedirectorJared Hesssigning on to be at the helm of the action comedy. Hess is just coming off working with Owen Wilson on the heist comedyMasterminds, a movie that was supposed to be released late last year but was delayed a couple times until finally settling on a September 30th late last month. It sounds like the two really hit it off while shooting the movie if they’re keen to work together again so quickly.
As of now, no details on the story have been revealed, but the story comes fromMiles MillarandAlfred Gough, who wrote the first two movies in the franchise. However, the screenplay will come from untested writersTheodore RileyandAaron Buchsbaum, the latter of which has a couple of scripts in development at this time. According toWikipedia, Owen Wilson once saidShanghai Dawncould maybe start in Hollywood and then go to Africa or the pyramids in Egypt, but who knows if that’s still the case.
There was a rumor aboutShanghai Dawncoming together last summer fromTracking Boardbut since their track record for rumors isn’t so great, the story didn’t gain any traction. Their report indicated thatLucy Liuwould also return with Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson, but that’s not mentioned anywhere in the latest update.
Just when you thought Hollywood had exhausted all of the franchises to revive and reboot, here comesShanghai Dawn. If this works, I wouldn’t be surprised to seeRush Hour 4come together afterward. Is this renewed interested in Jackie Chan because ofSkiptrace? I find that hard to believe, but maybe audiences just need Jackie Chan’s brand of action in their life again.
