Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass' 'Bourne 5' Set for July 2016

Sorry Aaron Cross, it was nice to meet you but Jason Bourne is ready to take over again. It took awhile, but Universal was able to lure Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass back to Bourne after going a different route with Jeremy Renner in The Bourne Legacy. That film is due to get a sequel at some point...maybe, but for now all of the attention is on Damon and Greengrass, with a 2016 release date now set in stone.

The "Untitled Next Bourne Chapter" (huh??) is set to open on July 29th 2016, but the big news is that Damon and Greengrass will co-write the script with Christopher Rouse. Rouse has been a frequent collaborator with Greengrass, editing all of his films since The Bourne Ultimatum. This will be the first film in the franchise not to have any involvement by Tony Gilroy, who you may remember got ripped by Damon for his last "unreadable" Bourne script.

So where does this Bourne film go? Damon and Greengrass are two savvy political guys, and their hands-on involvement with the screenplay means we can expect something current and extremely topical.

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Matt Damon Confirms 'Bourne' Return for 2016

Never say never, right? In Hollywood, franchises never die and stars rarely stay away from them for long. Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass had stepped away from the 'Bourne' series after The Bourne Ultimatum and for years they never looked back, despite constant rumors to the contrary. But then earlier this year reports surfaced that the duo would be making their long awaited return to the spy franchise, and while further updates put a dose of cold water on the situation, Damon has now confirmed he and Greengrass are definitely back.

Damon and his pal Ben Affleck were making the rounds promoting Project Greenlight, and they confirmed to E! that the fifth Bourne film would begin shooting in 2015 for release the following year. Affleck dropped the news first....

Affleck: "Well, [Damon's] going to be doing a 'Bourne' movie next fall when I've just completely lost any semblance of physical fitness. So…."

That was followed by Damon, who confirmed Greengrass would be returning behind the camera...

Damon: "It'll be in 2016 when the movie will actually come out. [Director] Paul Greengrass is going to do another one and that's all I ever said. I just needed him to say yes."

He's got a point there, as Greengrass has been the more defiant of the two. With the director now on board, Damon in tow, it'll be interesting to see if any other familiar faces return. Tony Gilroy, maybe? July 15th 2016 was the originally planned date but it remains to be seen if that will stand. And what about Jeremy Renner's sequel to The Bourne Legacy? It's off the calendar for now and is expected to arrive some time in the future after after Damon's film.

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Details Emerge on Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass' Return to 'Bourne'

There can't a story as huge as Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass' return to the Jason Bourne franchise without a whopper of a backstory and a few toes getting stepped on. And apparently it's Jeremy Renner who may have a sore foot if Damon and Greengrass' film moves forward, or as THR puts it “Let's hope Matt Damon and Jeremy Renner don't bump into each other at a restaurant.”

Producer Frank Marshall, who has been backing up Damon's denials for years, has opened up about what's really going on and what it sounds like is things are still in the formative stages.

Marshall: "We're on two tracks. And if this one [with Damon and Paul Greengrass] comes together, great, but they're still just talking."

But if a deal comes together and everybody likes the "strong" direction Greengrass has come up with for another Bourne movie, it would mean Renner and Justin Lin's spinoff sequel to The Bourne Legacy is pushed back while Damon's would go first in the summer of 2016. There is another factor to consider here, as Greengrass is also set to direct Jonah Hill and Leonardo DiCaprio's film on '96 Olympic bombing suspect Richard Jewell. If Fox decides to greenlight that we may see his Bourne movie delayed.

Marshall insists that Renner's film is going to happen at some point and is being developed now...

Marshall: "That movie is moving forward. It's still in development. We're working to get a script as soon as possible." 

Ever heard of the "dreaded vote of confidence"? That's what this sounds like to me. The Bourne Legacy did well, but not that well, and if Universal can get Damon back for what audiences will always consider the "true" Bourne movie then why spend money on another? There's also the potential issue in Lin's availability as he's supposed to direct a few episodes of HBO's True Detective.

So there are still a few things to work out but my sense of this is that Universal really wants Damon and Greengrass, and the Renner thing has now become an afterthought. There's a lot of details to get figured out between now and whenever we see Jason Bourne or Aaron Cross on screen again.

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Fifth 'Bourne' Film to Reunite Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass!

Ever since Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass exited the Jason Bourne franchise after The Bourne Ultimatum, they've been fielding questions about a comeback. The constant speculation about it didn't leave a lot of room for Jeremy Renner's debut in The Bourne Legacy to get established, and while the film did okay it was one of the franchise's weakest. Meanwhile Damon has mostly stuck to saying he would only return if Paul Greengrass was with him, that is finally happening.

Deadline reports that Damon and Greengrass are coming back for a fifth Bourne film, and after so many denials by them and producer Frank Marshall this comes as a huge shock. The plan being put together by Universal would have Damon and Greengrass' move into the July 15th 2016 spot that was occupied by Renner and Justin Lin's film. So what is going to happen with that one? It's still in the works but will be pushed back until the original crew's is finished. Not sure how Lin and Renner are going to take being bumped aside as if they're the JV League, but let's be honest that nothing they were going to do would top what Damon and Greengrass have already accomplished.

This is still pretty fresh and additional details are bound to spill out soon.

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Producer Denies Matt Damon's Return for 'Bourne 5'

Aaaaaand another rumor touting Matt Damon's return as Jason Bourne has been given the boot. It was just yesterday a story surfaced that said Universal's recent decision to move the fifth Bourne movie to 2016 was all because Damon was making a comeback to star alongside Jeremy Renner. Sure, it was something that producer Frank Marshall has said he really wants to see happen, but apparently that time is not right now. Marshall was asked by THR about the rumor and he totally shot it down....

Marshall: "It's simply not true.Justin Lin is working with Andrew Baldwin on an Aaron Cross script/story that they pitched us a few months ago. I talk to Justin all the time and the script is not ready. It's a summer movie, and if we don't start preproduction now, we can't make next summer. Therefore, it's a wise decision to move to 2016."

And that makes sense because we had heard next to nothing about a sequel to The Bourne Legacy even though it was slated to open next year. When Baldwin was recently hired to start working on a new script it became clear a delay was going to be necessary, and all of this happened while Damon was sticking to his guns about not coming back unless Paul Greengrass did too. 

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Matt Damon Again Rumored to Return for Fifth 'Bourne' Movie

In the years since Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass' The Bourne Ultimatum a lot has changed with the franchise. The two famously dropped out of a fourth film, which turned out to be The Bourne Legacy and starred Jeremy Renner as new agent, Aaron Cross. But one thing that has stayed the same is Damon's insistence that he would not return unless Greengrass came with him. And it's not as if he was only asked this question once or twice, but seemingly every few months the subject would come up and get the same response. But now a new story has surfaced that suggests Damon has changed his mind.

According to a "trusted source" speaking with Latino Review, Damon is coming back as Jason Bourne in the next movie, even though Greengrass won't be joining him. Damon has always maintained that he loves the character, and maybe after a few less-than-stellar box office performances he figures now is a good time for a comeback. And this does come at a time when Universal has just bumped the film from its August 2015 date to July 15, 2016, and some speculation is it was done to free up time for the busy Damon. 

What would this mean for Jeremy Renner, who finally had a franchise to call his own? Would this mean his character would be killed off or fade into the background? Or maybe Damon's appearance is little more than a cameo? Andrew Baldwin was hired to start work on the script from which Justin Lin (Fast Five) will direct, but there are lots of questions left to be answered. That's assuming any of this pans out, of course, and given Damon's willingness to talk about the subject it won't be long before we hear from him.

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Release Dates: 'Transformers 5' and 'Star Trek 3' in 2016, 'Bourne 5' Moved to Same Year

Michael Bay told us Transformers: Age of Extinction was the start of a new trilogy with Mark Wahlberg basically confirming it, and now we see Paramount taking steps to prepare for the franchise's future. Whether that will include Bay's direction is still kind of up in the air, but we do know the film will arrive in 2016.

The announcement was made today at CineEurope that not only will Transformers 5 arrive that year, but the studio will be going sequel and remake crazy in 2016 with Star Trek 3, Beverly Hills Cop, G.I. Joe 3, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters 2, and Paranormal Activity 5, which apparently won't come out in 2014 after all. They will also release Timur Bekmambetov's remake of Ben-Hur that same year. Star Trek 3 recently gained a director in longtime screenwriter Roberto Orci, and the plan to release it in 2016 coincides with plans to have the film ready by the franchise's 50th anniversary.

Over on the Universal lot, they've bumped the fifth 'Bourne' film eleven months to July 15th 2016. Justin Lin recently came aboard to direct the returning Jeremy Renner, reprising his role from The Bourne Legacy as super-agent Aaron Cross. [THR]

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'Logan's Run' Remake Writer to Script 'Bourne 5'

The final numbers for The Bourne Legacy probably weren't what Universal was hoping for, but it was good enough that they decided to push ahead with a sequel. The franchise as a whole is in the process of change, with Jeremy Renner coming aboard as new super agent Aaron Cross, and series writer Tony Gilroy, who also directed 'Legacy', exiting 'Bourne' completely. Justin Lin (Fast Five) and screenwriter Anthony Peckham (Sherlock Holmes) came aboard to give it more of a blockbuster feel, but there's still some tweaking that needs to be done.

Andrew Baldwin, who wrote the shelved Logan's Run remake Nicholas Winding Refn and Ryan Gosling were attached to at one time, has been brought in to rewrite Bourne 5. He also wrote yakuza flick The Outsider which Tom Hardy and Takashi Miike were circling before dropping out.

Exactly what kind of government conspiracy will rear its ugly head next time, we do know that Renner will be back as Aaron Cross and Rachel Weisz will probably be by his side. The Bourne Legacy sequel is slated for August 14th 2015 which means they'll need to get filming very soon to hit that date. [THR]

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Fifth 'Bourne' Film Slated for August 2015; Justin Lin Confirmed to Direct

Jeremy Renner's debut as the latest mind-altered super agent in The Bourne Legacy may not have set the world on fire, but it was enough to get Universal moving on a fifth film in the franchise. While there were some early rumors of Paul Greengrass possibly returning, those were replaced last month when Fast & Furious 6 helmer Justin Lin was reportedly close to signing on. Now the ink is dry and Universal has added the film to the crowded 2015 slate.

Lin will direct the untitled fifty Bourne movie for release August 14th 2015. Renner will return as Aaron Cross, and it's unclear if any of the other cast members will be joining him. Don't expect to see series scribe and 'Legacy' director Tony Gilroy tagging along, either, as he has totally moved on from the franchise.

As of now that places Bourne in a showdown with The Smurfs 3, so parents can send their kids to that while going to watch Renner kick some butt. 

Universal has also dated Luc Besson's next action flick, titled Lucy, for August 8th 2014. Starring Scarlett Johansson and Morgan Freeman, the film centers on "a woman accidentally caught in a dark deal who turns the tables on her captors and transforms into a merciless warrior evolved beyond human logic."

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