Brett Ratner, the director best known for the Rush Hour movies and a Melania Trump documentary that lost more money than a Monopoly board in a fire, has hitched a ride on Air Force One to join Donald Trump's summit with Xi Jinping in China.
Trump is scheduled to hold talks with the Chinese leader on Thursday and Friday over pressing economic and geopolitical issues, including Iran and Taiwan. The president was accompanied by a who's who of corporate America - Apple's Tim Cook, Tesla's Elon Musk, and BlackRock's Larry Fink - and, inexplicably, the guy who made Rush Hour 3.
Trump is reportedly a massive fan of the Rush Hour franchise, which follows detectives James Carter and Yan Naing Lee - played by Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan - as they bumble through cultural misunderstandings and solve crimes in various global hotspots. Ratner's spokesperson, Victoria Palmer-Moore, confirmed he would use the trip to scout filming locations for Rush Hour 4, planning to shoot "a lot" of it in China.
Last November, Trump encouraged billionaire Larry Ellison, the primary financial force behind Paramount Skydance, to revive the franchise once Paramount's controversial purchase of Warner Bros went through. That deal, however, remains unconfirmed, as hundreds of Hollywood actors and directors have urged regulators to block it over fears of job cuts and a scaled-back movie slate.
Trump's support has allowed Ratner to stage a Hollywood comeback after being sidelined following accusations of sexual misconduct during the #MeToo movement in 2017. Ratner denies all allegations.
In 2026, Ratner released the Amazon-backed documentary Melania, which followed the first lady during the 20 days before Trump's second inauguration. It was a critical and commercial flop, grossing $16.7 million at the box office against a production budget of $40 million - making it Ratner's first directed film in over a decade.
The original Rush Hour was an instant hit in 1998, topping the US box office upon release. Its sequel, Rush Hour 2, was also a massive success in 2001, before Ratner's critically and commercially disappointing Rush Hour 3 limped into theaters in 2007.
Despite rumors of a fourth film circulating for nearly two decades - with Chan suggesting in 2017 that he and Tucker had agreed on a new script - development stalled until Trump intervened in late 2025. Because nothing says international diplomacy like a presidential push for a buddy-cop sequel.