Fifth ‘Bourne’ Film Gets August 2015 Release

The fifth installment in the Bourne franchise has been given an August 14, 2015 release date.

Justin Lin, who has directed the last four Fast and Furious movies, is set to direct the upcoming film. Lin dropped out of Fast and Furious 7 due to “franchise fatigue,” and The Conjuring director James Wan stepped up for the new installment. However, with the death of franchise star Paul Walker on November 30, production on the film has been halted for the time being.

Jeremy Renner, who starred as Aaron Cross in The Bourne Legacy, will reprise his role in the fifth installment. The first three films starred Matt Damon as Jason Bourne, but the Academy Award winner chose not to return for the fourth film, The Bourne Legacy. However, there are several mentions and pictures of Bourne in the film.

Although the fifth film in the Bourne franchise is currently untitled, the previous films have all been named after the novels in Robert Ludlum’s original Jason Bourne trilogy. The 2004 novel The Bourne Legacy was written — with permission from Ludlum’s estate — by Eric Van Lustbader, who wrote six more novels in the series. Lustbader’s second Bourne novel is entitled The Bourne Betrayal, so it is possible that the next film will bear the same name.

Although The Bourne Legacy received mixed reviews from critics, the film exceeded Universal’s $35 million expectation and grossed approximately $38.7 million in its opening weekend in the US and Canada. The film grossed $46.6 million worldwide in its first weekend, and grossed over $276 million at the worldwide box office. The third film, The Bourne Ultimatum, had the highest box office gross of the series at over $443 million. It was also earned a 94 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes and an 85 on Metacritic, the highest ratings for the series. The entire franchise, so far, has grossed over $1.2 billion, with an average of 79 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and a 72 on Metacritic.

Also opening in the summer of 2015 are: the Alan Taylor-directed Terminator reboot (July 1), the Despicable Me spinoff, Minions(July 10), the Man of Steel sequel, Batman vs. Superman(July 17), Edgar Wright’s Ant-Man (July 31), Assassin’s Creed starring Michael Fassbender (August 7), and The Smurfs 3(August 14).

Universal has also set the Luc Besson thriller, Lucy, starring Scarlett Johansson, for an August 8, 2014 release.