Jackie Chan making action sequel Armour Of God IV, due for release in 2027

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Martial arts legend Jackie Chan is making Armour Of God IV in Kazakhstan, continuing an action saga that began 40 years ago. Will Jackie Chan cave into to the mighty dollar (and maybe the demands of a certain US President) and make Rush Hour 4? Hopefully not. But there is a third sequel we can ... Jackie Chan making action sequel Armour Of God IV, due for release in 2027

Martial arts legend Jackie Chan is making Armour Of God IV in Kazakhstan, continuing an action saga that began 40 years ago.

Will Jackie Chan cave into to the mighty dollar (and maybe the demands of a certain US President) and make Rush Hour 4? Hopefully not. But there is a third sequel we can throw our enthusiasm behind: Armour Of God IV: Ultimatum.

It’s the veteran action star’s latest entry in a series which began 40 years ago with the original Armour Of God – an Indiana Jones-esque globe-trotting adventure in which Chan played rock musician and thrill-seeking treasure hunter, Asian Hawk. He followed it up in 1991 with Armour Of God II: Operation Condor, then again with 2012’s Chinese Zodiac.

The new film will be shot in Kazakhstan according to a report at Variety, with production set to begin in July and the release scheduled for spring 2027.

As in any globe-trotting adventure, there’s a MacGuffin: this time, “an ancient artifact known as the Tumar, carrying a reward of more than $20m”. Maybe we’ve been reading too many tech industry reports with talks of multi-billion dollar deals in them, but that reward doesn’t sound all that massive somehow. I mean, it wouldn’t even buy Asian Hawk one tenth of the Scarface mansion in Miami.

Maybe there’s something to be written about how the value of ‘priceless’ ancient artifacts has failed to keep pace with other assets like houses, digital funny money and vast data centres.

Anyway, back to Kazakhstan, and a quote from Jackie Chan himself, who says that Armour Of God IV (director: Robert Kun) is just the beginning of his exploits in the area.

“This is my first project with Kazakh partners, but it will not be the last,” he said in a statement. “We will be announcing much more soon. I have never filmed there before, and it opens up many new visual and creative ideas that we will be able to bring to audiences.”

It’s quite a pledge, given that Chinese Zodiac, was once going to be Chan’s grand farewell to his brand of action filmmaking. That film’s set-piece saw Chan hurtle down a hillside road, both around and under vehicles, in a padded suit covered in tiny wheels.

It was another dangerous stunt in a career stuffed with them; Chan’s potentially fatal head injury, sustained during the shooting of Armour Of God, was infamously edited into its concluding blooper reel. He’s kept on going, though, and while his stunts aren’t quite as death defying these days (he’s 72), the action films keep on coming.

“Sometimes I just wonder when I should stop,” Chan told me in 2012, “and tell the world, ‘No more action.’ I just don’t know when. When’s a good time? When’s a good moment? I don’t know.”