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.