Trump's trip to China is also a Rush Hour 4 location-scouting expedition

The president brought disgraced director Brett Ratner across the Pacific with him.

By Drew Gillis  |  May 14, 2026 | 9:20am
Photo by Jim Spellman/WireImage
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Trump's trip to China is also a Rush Hour 4 location-scouting expedition

President Trump is, right now, in China for a diplomatic summit with President Xi. But after going all that way, you might as well use the opportunity to scout locations for the movie you basically insisted got made. According to the South China Morning Post, Rush Hour and Melania director Brett Ratner is traveling with the Trump delegation to China to start preparations for Rush Hour 4, the movie that started production late last year after the president personally lobbied for it. It’s currently unclear whether Ratner is part of the official delegation—which, in addition to government employees like Marco Rubio and Pete Hegseth, includes Apple’s Tim Cook and Elon Musk—or whether he’s just taking advantage of a free flight and stowing away. 

The SCMP reports that most of the film is expected to be shot in China. Per The Hollywood Reporter, Paramount isn’t actually financing or producing Rush Hour 4, leaving that to Ratner’s production company RatPac Entertainment. So far, that seems to have led to some hiccups, at least as it relates to the series’ stars. Last month, Matthew Belloni reported in Puck that Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan do not yet have deals in place, both rejecting an $8 million offer to appear in the movie after having each made about $20 million to appear in 2007’s Rush Hour 3. Meanwhile, Ratner’s last movie and his first post-disgrace, Melania, managed to find a $28 million paycheck for the first lady.

 
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