If a franchise makes money, it can never truly die.  Rush Hour 3 raked in $258 million worldwide, and even though it’s been five years since the limp, unfunny sequel, producer Arthur Sarkissian hasn’t given up hope of bringing detectives Carter (Chris Tucker) and Lee (Jackie Chan) back for a fourth go-round.  This weekend at the Television Critics Association tour, Sarkissian confirmed that Tucker and Chan were “interested” in returning (translation: they haven’t completely rejected the idea of doing a sequel provided they like the script and the paycheck), and there’s currently no screenwriter.  As for getting Brett Ratner back in the director’s chair, Sarkissian sounded less-than-enthusiastic at the possibility: “If he wants to do it he’s more than welcome to do it but he’s got to do it in the right way.”

So what’s “the right way”?  Hit the jump for Sarkissian’s contradictory, derivative ideas regarding a sequel.

With Brett Ratner’s comedy Tower Heist opening this weekend, I was able to chat with the busy director on the phone when he was in New York City promoting the movie.  Starring Eddie Murphy, Ben Stiller, Matthew Broderick, Casey Affleck, Gabourey Sidibe, Téa Leoni, Stephen Henderson, Judd Hirsch, Michael Peña, and Alan Alda, Tower Heist centers on a group of disgruntled employees who decide to rob a white-collar criminal living under house arrest in their high-rise after he scams them all out of their savings.

During our wide-ranging conversation, Ratner talked about how he got involved in the project and who was originally going to star in it, the test screening process, deleted scenes, improv, what will be on the Blu-ray/DVD, and what it was like to work with Eddie Murphy.  In addition, Ratner talked about producing next year’s Oscars, future projects like Movie 43, 39 Clues, Hercules, Hong Kong Phooey, Beverly Hills Copy 4, Rush Hour 4, the Woody Allen documentary that he’s producing, and a lot more.  Hit the jump for the interview and audio.

Having first seen director Brett Ratner’s Rush Hour with a less-refined taste in film during my youth may have left me a wee bit biased, but I still don’t consider it too much of a stretch to group this buddy-cop action-comedy up there with Lethal Weapon and Beverly Hills Cop as a staple of the genre. Sure it’s by-the-numbers, but this class of flick calls for that and sidesteps the pitfalls of its rehashed themes by showcasing a hilarious, well-matched duo: the loud-mouthed, bug-eyed Chris Tucker and the nimble, accent-thick Jackie Chan. Light on special effects and laden with memorable banter, this 80’s buddy-cop throwback is a shamelessly fun time-killer. My review of the Blu-Ray after the jump.

Brett Ratner has established himself as one of Hollywood’s most successful directors with eight features films grossing over $1.5 billion worldwide. Best known for the Rush Hour films, X-Men: The Last Stand and Red Dragon, the filmmaker is releasing his 90-minute, re-edited and remixed version of the Bollywood film Kites, starring Hrithik Roshan and Barbara Mori.

Kites: The Remix follows J (Roshan), a mortally wounded man left for dead in the harsh terrain of the Mexican desert, who is on a quest to find the love of his life, Natasha (Mori). It is a story of passion that goes beyond boundaries and cultures, and defies every rule, and it was that relationship that caught the attention of Ratner, when he initially saw the film.

While at the film’s press day, Brett Ratner talked exclusively to Collider about how this unusual project came about, why he decided to re-edit a Bollywood film and what he thinks it will take for a Bollywood movie to make it big in America. He also talked about his next projects, the chances of Beverly Hills Cop IV and Playboy coming to fruition, and the TV pilot for Chaos that he recently directed, and says his next directing gig will be Tower Heist which he wants Ben Stiller to star in.  Check out what he had to say after the jump: