Jason Bourne ($344,047,235) (Greengress 3D Shaky Cam Makes China Protest)

The fourth installment of The Bourne Identity franchise (third film with Paul Greengrass) has begun casting up, and the first confirmed star beyond Matt Damon is Julia Stiles. She has closed a deal to reprise her role as covert agent Nicky Parsons in Universal Pictures’ Untitled Next Bourne Chapter. Stiles appeared in the first three films, emerging as an ally for the amnesiac assassin title character Jason Bourne. Let’s hope they bring back Joan Allen, who has also been a galvanizing figure in the franchise. Deadline revealed that Ex Machina star Alicia Vikander was being sought for a major role, but Stiles is the first cast member we’ve confirmed so far. Stiles will be been next in Beyond Deceit opposite Al Pacino and Go With Me opposite Anthony Hopkins.

This gives Universal another strong tent pole, which has fueled its strong performance so far this year. Greengrass is writing the screenplay with Christopher Rouse and Frank Marshall again produces the action-thriller alongside Jeffrey Weiner for Captivate Entertainment. Greengrass, Damon and Greg Goodman also produce. Rouse and Henry Morrison serve as executive producers. Stiles is represented by ICM Partners, Untitled and Sloane, Offer, Weber and Dern.

Tyger wrote:These movies have bored me from early on into the first. I don't get the attraction.

Sources have told Variety that Viggo Mortensen was holding the offer to play the assassin tracking Bourne but has not confirmed whether he will be joining the cast.

UltimateMarvel wrote:I'm glad they're finally moving forward with this, please no more shaky cams. Hopefully the director likes what he saw in Legacy and he'll take away something from it.

ForeverBlu wrote:She chose Matt over her current BF Michael Fassbenber?

Hmmmm...

Tommy Lee Jones has joined Matt Damon in the next installment of the “Bourne” franchise.

Alicia Vikander and Julia Stiles are also on board to join the action series, while Paul Greengrass is back to direct and pen the script with Christopher Rouse.

Frank Marshall will produce again alongside Jeffrey Weiner for Captivate Entertainment. Greengrass, Damon, Greg Goodman and Ben Smith will also produce, while Rouse and Henry Morrison will serve as executive producers.

Plot details are unknown at this time, though sources say Jones will play a superior officer at the CIA. Edward Norton, Chris Cooper, Brian Cox and David Strathairn have playing similar roles in past “Bourne” movies. Production is expected to begin later this summer. The film will bow on July 29, 2016.

Damon’s three Bourne movies, the first of which was released in 2002, grossed nearly $1 billion worldwide at the box office. Damon last played the iconic role in 2007’s “The Bourne Ultimatum,” and Jeremy Renner stepped into the franchise with 2012’s Tony Gilroy-directed “The Bourne Legacy.”

Jones was last seen in “The Homesman,” which he also wrote and directed, and will appear alongside Kevin Costner in the upcoming thriller “Criminal.”

ForeverBlu wrote:They've really trying to make Fassy's GF happen right now.

It's been eight long years since super spy Jason Bourne disappeared into the night by sea in The Bourne Ultimatum, and after years of fans clamoring for more, Jason Bourne is finally ready to resurface. However, it should be noted that the world he left was vastly different to the world he'll reenter next July. 

Speaking with Buzzfeed News, while promoting his October release The Martian, star Matt Damon spoke in length about his upcoming fourth Bourne adventure and why it's taken so long for him to reprise his most popular role to date. Damon started out by first reflecting on the original trilogy and how the films managed to serve as a sort of commentary on the Bush administration: “We always looked at those movies as really about the Bush presidency, and so we kind of had to wait for the world to change... What does the character have to say?”  

To answer his own question, Damon went on to reveal that even though he and director Paul Greengrass would revisit the idea of a new Bourne story every once in a while over the past eight years, it wasn't until Edward Snowden's NSA whistleblowing revelations that an idea for Bourne 5 actually materialized: “Without giving too much of it away, it’s Bourne through an austerity-riddled Europe and in a post-Snowden world... It seems like enough has changed, you know? There are all these kinds of arguments about spying and civil liberties and the nature of democracy.”

Damon also confirmed that Bourne 5, which will also star Julia Stiles, Tommy Lee Jones, and Alicia Vikander, kicks off production sometime this week in Greece and will eventually conclude in Las Vegas: “We’re starting in Greece, you know, the beginning of democracy... And the movie ends in Las Vegas, the most grotesque incarnation of….” He didn't finish that last sentence, instead opting for a laugh and letting fans imagine what kind of new predicament the super soldier will find himself in when he makes his long-awaited return.

Vincent Cassel is the Bad Guy

Vincent Cassel is set to play the villain in the next installment of the Jason Bourne franchise starring Matt Damon.

Alicia Vikander and Tommy Lee Jones are also on board for the project, and Julia Stiles is set to return as well.

Paul Greengrass is back to direct and co-pen the script with Christopher Rouse. Frank Marshall again produces the action-thriller alongside Jeffrey Weiner for Captivate Entertainment. Greengrass, Damon, Greg Goodman and Ben Smith also produce. Rouse and Henry Morrison serve as executive producers.

Plot details are unknown at this time, though sources say Cassel will play an assassin tracking Bourne. Cassel joins the ranks of Clive Owen, Karl Urban and Edgar Ramirez, who played the villains in previous “Bourne” chapters.

Production is expected to begin later this summer. The film will bow on July 29, 2016.

Damon’s three Bourne movies, which began in 2002 and ended in 2007, grossed nearly $1 billion at the worldwide box office.

Cassel is repped by CAA and Agence Adequat and was most recently seen in “Child 44.” He can next be seen in “Partisan,” which is scheduled for release in the U.S. on October 2. Upcoming pics include “Tale of Tales” and “Mon Roi,” both of which premiered at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, and he has completed lensing on “A Movie Life,” “The Great Mystical Circus,” as well as “It’s Only the End of the World.”

ForeverBlu wrote:Yeah I know his name..

HE who shutdown the Aaron Cross Trilogy.

There are few franchises out there right now that I love as unequivocally and without exception as the Bourne franchise that Universal has been keeping alive since the early aughts. Though the films lack the stylistic oomph of something like the similarly estimable Mission Impossible franchise, each film is staggeringly engrossing, kinetic, and totally exhilarating from beginning to end. That goes as much for Doug Liman‘s The Bourne Identity as Tony Gilroy‘s oft-derided, actually pretty stellar The Bourne Legacy, and word from a few sources says that the upcoming Jason Bourne, which once again pairs Matt Damon with director Paul Greengrass, is just as good. Keep on making these films until the lights go out, as far as I’m concerned on that matter.

And, well, that seems to be Universal Pictures planned for their beloved action-flick series. According to The Playlist, Universal chairwoman Donna Langley recently commented that the ultimate goal for Universal is to keep making Jason Bourne movies with Greengrass and Damon until neither of them can do it anymore. And Damon, speaking to the New York Times, commented that its hard to turn down a chance to do a movie that so many people love, especially after doing several movies that people, on the whole, didn’t like.

As long as the movies don’t bog down Greengrass and Damon from doing other interesting projects, such as The Informant! or Captain Phillips, I can’t say I see any issue with this. I’d certainly be more inclined to keep paying money to see Damon as his super spy than to see the notoriously hit-and-miss James Bond franchise continue on, though I know that Bond will continue on until I’m down in the cold, cold ground. But if Damon can keep on taking on audacious films like Alexander Payne‘s upcoming Downsizing, and Greengrass can keep on making in-the-moment action opuses like Green Zone or the aforementioned Captain Phillips, Jason Bourne could similarly continue on, breaking all the necks on an international scale.

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Here’s exactly what Langley had to say about the Bourne movies:

“Even though Matt and Paul had been very definitive about not wanting to come back, we weren’t really willing to submit to that…Look, here’s what I think the goal is: to keep Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass doing Bourne movies till they can’t do them anymore.”

Here’s what Damon had to say about the subject:

“At a certain point, I said to Paul, ‘People really want to see this movie, and that’s not something to turn our noses up at…Having made movies that didn’t find an audience, I didn’t want to thumb our nose at this opportunity.”
 
“It’s this weird thing where you can’t give them exactly the same thing, or they’ll be resentful…But you have to give them enough of something they recognize that they feel like they’re getting what they paid for.”

Universal Pictures created an "exclusive" 3D version of the film for select Asian markets, but many moviegoers say the format makes for a queasy mix with Paul Greengrass' handheld camerawork and frenetic editing style.

Universal Pictures' Jason Bourne is attracting attention on Chinese social media for all the wrong reasons.

The film debuted Tuesday to an impressive $11.8 million — a single-day high for the Bourne franchise in China — but complaints about a "special" 3D conversion of the film soon began to proliferate.

On Wednesday, many Chinese moviegoers alleged that the 3D version of Jason Bourne had left them feeling dizzy and nauseous. Others soon joined the chorus to complain that it was too difficult to see the original 2D version, as cinemas were overwhelmingly screening the 3D option.

"I really felt sick during the fight scenes when I watched it in 3D," posted a user name azooombie on Weibo, a Chinese social media service, adding: "It was like a low-budget movie. I need to watch again in 2D."

3D is a dominant cinema format in China. The vast majority of China's estimated 37,000-39,000 movie screens were built over the past decade, and some 80 percent are equipped with 3D projection technology. Local moviegoers have lapped up 3D films, turning out in force for effects-heavy 3D fare since Avatar became a phenomenon in China in 2007.  Hollywood and local distributors and exhibitors have been happy to encourage the market's penchant for premium-priced 3D tickets.

But many Chinese fans and critics say that converting Jason Bourne to 3D was the wrong choice, given director Paul Greengrass' signature handheld camera techniques and frenetic editing style. The film was shot in 2D and released in North America and Europe in its original format. The special 3D version is being rolled out in China, Hong Kong, India, the Philippines and Vietnam. 

On Friday, the state-backed Chinese newspaper Global Times ran a story reporting that moviegoers in Beijing's Chaoyang district organized a protest Thursday demanding refunds after seeing the film in 3D. The paper said only eight of Beijing's 149 movie theaters were offering screenings of the 2D version as of Thursday, while just nine of Shanghai's 174 cinemas were showing the original film.

On Wednesday, Universal's Beijing office issued a statement on Weibo saying that it is working with local distributors to arrange more 2D screenings to serve the audience's "diversified moviegoing needs."

The fifth film in the Bourne series marks the return of Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass to the franchise. Alicia Vikander, Tommy Lee Jones and Vincent Cassel make their Bourne debuts in the movie.

As of Thursday, Jason Bourne's three-day China total was a healthy $25.1 million, according to local box office tracker Ent Group.