Summary
Matt Damon’s firstJason Bournereplacement was an overlooked box office failure.Damon has been the face of the Bourne franchiseever since the first filmThe Bourne Identitywas made back in 2002. Interestingly, he made that film with director Doug Liman, who he recently reconnected with after 22 years on Apple’s upcomingheist comedyThe Instigators, which Damon stars in alongsideGood Will Huntingalum and Oscar winner Casey Affleck. Paul Greengrass took the reins oftheBournefranchisefor2004’sBourneSupremacy, 2007’sBourne Ultimatum, and the 2016 rebootJason Bourne.
Damon reprised his iconic role in 2016’s rebootJason Bourne, which is the last time that the actor has depicted one of the most celebrated characters of his career. WhileDamon has expressed interest in returning to theBournefranchise,his participation inBourne 6has yet to be confirmed. Since appearing in Jason Bourne, Damon has starred inThe Great Wall,Downsizing,Suburbicon,Ford v Ferrari,Stillwater,The Last Duel,Air, andOppenheimer. Damon surely has more than enough to keep him occupied these days, but a modern-day return to the Bourne franchise would truly be historic.
Green Zone Was Matt Damon & Paul Greengrass' Bourne Follow-Up
Damon plays a U.S. Army officer who goes rogue
Like theBournemovies,Green Zoneis a political action thriller that exists in the shadowy world of covert intelligence operations.
Paul Greengrass is celebrated for his work with Damon on the original Bourne trilogy but not as much for their 2010 team-up calledGreen Zone. Greengrass and Damon did twoBournemovies together before reuniting forGreen Zone, which by comparison was less critically acclaimed or successful at the box office.The Bourne SupremacyandThe Bourne Ultimatummade $288.5 million and $442.8 million at the worldwide box office, respectively, whileGreen Zonefailed to cross the $100 million mark, generating a worldwide total of $94.9 million against a production budget of $100 million and an additional $40 million for marketing costs.
Before the release ofGreen Zone, Damon and Greengrass were riding high off theirBournesuccess and could seemingly do no wrong. Many viewers and critics still thinkGreen Zoneis a perfectly good movie but it simply could not live up to the level of theBournefilms before it, which was a challenge to begin with. Like theBournemovies,Green Zoneis a political action thriller that exists in the shadowy world of covert intelligence operations.Damon plays Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller who goes rogue after being deceived by a CIA officialin a desperate hunt for weapons of mass destruction.
It’s Not Too Late For Matt Damon & Jeremy Renner’s Bourne Crossover Movie
The Jason Bourne franchise is not over yet, and with a sixth movie on the way, a team-up between Bourne and Aaron Cross is more possible than ever.
Why Green Zone Wasn’t As Successful As Matt Damon’s Bourne Movies
Greengrass may have set the bar too high with The Bourne Ultimatum
It could have to do with how similar the Green Zone sounded to the Bourne movies, which may have seemed cheap, forced, unimaginative, and unappealing to casual viewers.
Green Zonehad the makeup of aBournefilm set in the midst of the 2003 war in Iraq, which at face value sounds like a surefire winner at the box office. Add Damon and Greengrass to the mix and it would seemingly be impossible to miss. Surprisingly, this is exactly what ended up happening, withGreen Zonefailing to even make back its budget just three years after the massive success ofThe Bourne Ultimatum. Discovering what exactly went wrong withGreen Zoneis a headscratcher but it could have to do with how similar the film sounded to theBournemovies, which may have seemed cheap, forced, unimaginative, and unappealing to casual viewers.
Some critics felt likeGreen Zonejust wasn’t offering Greengrass at his best. Tim Robey ofThe Daily Telegraphwrote in his review, “Breathless, yes, but oddly disengaged, in the first Greengrass project yet where you feel he’s delivering just on par.” Peter Bradshaw ofThe Guardianwrote in his 2-star review, “Green Zone has technical flair, but we expect more from Greengrass.“Perhaps Greengrass set the bar too high for himself withThe Bourne Ultimatumthat leftGreen Zonedoomed from the start. It was impossible to watchGreen Zonewhen it came out in 2010 and not naturally draw comparisons to his work on theBournefilms.
Matt Damon & Paul Greengrass Made Another Bourne Movie Years After Green Zone
Jason Bourne received a critic score on Rotten Tomatoes of just 54%
Several critics found theJason Bournereboot completely unnecessary and a detriment to the integrity of the original trilogy.
After three movies together from 2004-2010, Greengrass and Damon then didn’t make another movie together until they reunited for theJason Bournereboot in 2016, which worked out pretty well for them financially. That film nearly topped the worldwide box office gross ofBourne Ultimatum,raking in a worldwide total of $415.5 million despite receiving mixed reviews. In fact,Jason Bournereceived a critic score on Rotten Tomatoes of just 54%, whileGreen Zonehas a nearly identical RT critic score of 53%. The audience scores are nearly identical as well, dividing both audiences and critics.
Several critics found theJason Bournereboot completely unnecessary and a detriment to the integrity of the original trilogy. Chris Klimek ofNPRwrote in his review of Jason Bourne, “An idea-starved vestigial tail on the Bourne trilogy that wrapped up nicely nine years ago.” Joe Morgenstern ofThe Wall Street Journalwrote in his review, “Bourne used to be an anguished amnesiac. Now he remembers who he is, but this fourth episode of the franchise forgot to make him human.” Brian Tallerico ofRogerEbert.comwrote, “The film is like Jason Bourne fan fiction in how much it completely reworks things we’ve seen before, only with a few more years of cyberterrorism buzzwords to give viewers the illusion of not just depth but a plot.”
Jason Bourne 6’s Perfect Casting Would Pay Off A 27-Year Matt Damon Trend
If Damon reprises his iconic role in Jason Bourne 6, one of his most frequent creative collaborators would make the perfect full-circle villain.
What Matt Damon’s Jason Bourne Future Looks Like
Jason Bourne is still stuck in development but looks promising
Matt Damon has expressed interest as recently as February 2024 in returning to theBournefranchiseafter reading and approving a screenplay. Other than that, there have been no major updates on the status ofJason Bourne 6other than Universal’s 2023 announcementthat the franchise film was officially in development.Jason Bourne 6will either see the return of Damon’s iconic character or focus on another protagonist, which could include Jeremy Renner’s Aaron Cross fromThe Bourne Legacy. Edward Berger (All Quiet on the Western Front) is reported to be directingJason Bourne 6, althoughhe has not provided a status update either.
It’s natural to assume that Hollywood, Damon, and Greengrass may have lost interest in theBournefranchise for the time being, since there may not be a feasible way for the character to progress any further in a convincing way. With all the franchise sequels and reboots that are currently being made nowadays,it does seem likely that a name as legendary asBournewill return in some shape or formduring this decade. Even thoughGreen Zonefailed to capture the same lightning in a bottle as theBournefilms, the 2016 reboot proved that if you put Damon in anotherJason Bournemovie, people will likely pay to see it.
Jason Bourne
The Bourne Franchise is an action-thriller series conceived initially by Robert Ludlum in the Bourne novel series. The film adaptations began with The Bourne Identity in 2002 with Matt Damon starring as Jason Bourne, a man who, after regaining his memories, learns that he was a top CIA assassin, with his former employer trying to kill him to tie up loose ends. The mantle eventually was briefly handed over to a new protagonist, Aaron Cross, portrayed by Jeremy Renner in The Bourne Legacy. A television show titled Treadstone was created to tell the story of the titular agency behind the program but was canceled after one season.
