Skydance, Apple and Netflix are said to be in contention to buy the Jason Bourne franchise as its rights go up for sale.
With the ability to slip into a crowd and become a threat from the shadows, Jason Bourne has never seemed like the settling down type. That seems to be a truism that extends beyond the character and into the franchise itself. According to The Hollywood Reporter, author Robert Ludlum’s estate has put up the entire library of titles on the market, including the rights to the Bourne novels.
Since a couple of years before 2002’s The Bourne Identity, the rights to Ludlum’s espionage specialist have resided at Universal, although attempts to make a Bourne film track all the way back through the 1980s when Warner Bros was interested in setting up a version that would have starred Burt Reynolds.
Ultimately, Reynolds passed, and Jason Bourne wouldn’t burst onto cinema screens until the early 21st century, played by Matt Damon. He reinvented his movie star persona somewhat as he proved that he could make an excellent action hero. Four more films have followed, with the last – 2016’s Jason Bourne – releasing almost a decade ago. There was noise last year that Conclave's Edward Berger was being lined up by Universal to make the next film in the series but ultimately, like several other projects Berger has been linked to – that wouldn’t materialise.
Now the rights to the character are up for grabs, and Skydance, Apple and Netflix are all said to have had conversations with Ludlum’s estate about making a deal. There’s always the chance that Universal could make a bid to re-acquire the rights as well of course.
The news emerges at an interesting time for action espionage movies, given Amazon’s recent powerplay to take full creative control of the 007 franchise. Behind Bond, Bourne is probably the next biggest name in this genre (unless you stretch the defintions of the genre to include the Mission: Impossible films) and whilst there’s always the chance that Damon could be tempted back to reprise the role once more, there’s obviously lots of untapped potential in kickstarting a new series of Bourne films with a new lead actor.
Universal’s series itself tried to pseudo-reboot the series with Jeremy Renner in the lead in 2012’s The Bourne Legacy but the shadow of Damon nstill loomed large over the series at that point. However, by the time a new Bourne film emerges if will have been well over a decade since the last time the actor appeared in a Bourne film and we’d guess that a reboot of the series is the more likely option. We’ll bring yu more on this one as we hear it.
