After more than two decades, action thriller fans are remembering just how great this classic franchise really is. Audiences have flocked to Prime Video to check out the action series in (almost) its entirety, with many no doubt now recalling just how influential this tale of an amnesiac assassin really has been on the action movie genre.
We are talking, of course, about Jason Bourne, the forgetful killer played so expertly by A-lister, Oscar-winner and Hollywood icon Matt Damon. Damon first played author Robert Ludlum’s skilled assassin Jason Bourne in 2002’s The Bourne Identity, with the first movie and its sequels, The Bourne Supremacy, and The Bourne Ultimatum, each being met with critical acclaim and breathing new life into modern action movies. The first movie, directed by Doug Liman, was a somewhat slower, stripped-down thriller, introducing audiences a new king of action hero in Damon’s slight-yet-highly-skilled assassin. The action thrills ramped up in the sequels when director Paul Greengrass took over, introducing the notorious shaky-cam that is still divisive to this day.
The legacy of the Bourne franchise is undeniable, with the lesser-known action hero even influencing one of the most iconic genre icons of all time – James Bond – and leading to the far grittier Daniel Craig era which began with 2006’s Casino Royale. The Bourne franchise, including The Bourne Identity and The Bourne Ultimatum, as well as the Jeremy Renner-led spin-off, The Bourne Legacy, are all now trending on streaming, entering Prime Video’s Top 10 and proving there is still a lot of life left in the franchise.
What Does the Future Hold for Jason Bourne?
The popularity of the Jason Bourne franchise on Prime Video is likely to hit the ears of execs at NBCUniversal like the sweetest music, with the studio having recently reacquired all rights to the Bourne series following a period of trepidation during which the franchise was shopped to the likes of Netflix.
“Since its debut in 2002, the iconic Bourne franchise has reshaped the spy genre with groundbreaking films that set new standards for cinematic action,” Universal Pictures president Peter Cramer in a statement. “We’re energized to continue expanding the Bourne universe into the future with exciting new stories for global audiences.”
While word on a sequel has been as secret and scarce as a Bourne-style mission, rumors have claimed that Academy Award-winning director Edward Berger is being eyed to take the helm of the next Jason Bourne sequel (he was also rumored for Amazon’s James Bond reboot before Denis Villeneuve was announced). A potential title, The Bourne Dilemma, has also since been revealed. While this is currently just rampant speculation, Damon himself has given Berger his seal of approval, saying…
“There is a great director named Edward Berger. [‘All Quiet on the Western Front’] is a fantastic film, and he’s wonderful and he said he had an idea [for Bourne]. I would love to work with him, so he’s working on it. Look, I’m as anxious as you are to see if this thing [happens] — I hope it’s great and that we can do it.”
