Matt Damon's First Jason Bourne Replacement Was This $94.5M Box Office Bomb That Just Hit Prime Video

Summary Matt Damon's return as Jason Bourne in 2016's reboot marked the last time he portrayed the iconic character in the celebrated franchise.

Damon's interest in reprising his role for Bourne 6 has yet to be confirmed, leaving fans eagerly awaiting any updates on his potential return.

While Green Zone failed to reach the success of the Bourne films, Damon and director Greengrass have shown resilience with the Jason Bourne reboot.

Matt Damon's first Jason Bourne replacement was an overlooked box office failure. Damon has been the face of the Bourne franchise ever since the first film The Bourne Identity was made back in 2002. Interestingly, he made that film with director Doug Liman, who he recently reconnected with after 22 years on Apple's upcoming heist comedy The Instigators, which Damon stars in alongside Good Will Hunting alum and Oscar winner Casey Affleck. Paul Greengrass took the reins of the Bourne franchise for 2004's Bourne Supremacy, 2007's Bourne Ultimatum, and the 2016 reboot Jason Bourne.

Damon reprised his iconic role in 2016's reboot Jason Bourne, which is the last time that the actor has depicted one of the most celebrated characters of his career. While Damon has expressed interest in returning to the Bourne franchise, his participation in Bourne 6 has yet to be confirmed. Since appearing in Jason Bourne, Damon has starred in The Great Wall, Downsizing, Suburbicon, Ford v Ferrari, Stillwater, The Last Duel, Air, and Oppenheimer. Damon surely has more than enough to keep him occupied these days, but a modern-day return to the Bourne franchise would truly be historic.

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Green Zone Was Matt Damon & Paul Greengrass' Bourne Follow-Up

Damon plays a U.S. Army officer who goes rogue

Like the Bourne movies, Green Zone is a political action thriller that exists in the shadowy world of covert intelligence operations.

Paul Greengrass is celebrated for his work with Damon on the original Bourne trilogy but not as much for their 2010 team-up called Green Zone. Greengrass and Damon did two Bourne movies together before reuniting for Green Zone, which by comparison was less critically acclaimed or successful at the box office. The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum made $288.5 million and $442.8 million at the worldwide box office, respectively, while Green Zone failed to cross the $100 million mark, generating a worldwide total of $94.9 million against a production budget of $100 million and an additional $40 million for marketing costs.

Before the release of Green Zone, Damon and Greengrass were riding high off their Bourne success and could seemingly do no wrong. Many viewers and critics still think Green Zone is a perfectly good movie but it simply could not live up to the level of the Bourne films before it, which was a challenge to begin with. Like the Bourne movies, Green Zone is a political action thriller that exists in the shadowy world of covert intelligence operations. Damon plays Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller who goes rogue after being deceived by a CIA official in a desperate hunt for weapons of mass destruction.

Related It's Not Too Late For Matt Damon & Jeremy Renner's Bourne Crossover Movie The Jason Bourne franchise is not over yet, and with a sixth movie on the way, a team-up between Bourne and Aaron Cross is more possible than ever.

Why Green Zone Wasn't As Successful As Matt Damon's Bourne Movies

Greengrass may have set the bar too high with The Bourne Ultimatum

It could have to do with how similar the Green Zone sounded to the Bourne movies, which may have seemed cheap, forced, unimaginative, and unappealing to casual viewers.

Green Zone had the makeup of a Bourne film set in the midst of the 2003 war in Iraq, which at face value sounds like a surefire winner at the box office. Add Damon and Greengrass to the mix and it would seemingly be impossible to miss. Surprisingly, this is exactly what ended up happening, with Green Zone failing to even make back its budget just three years after the massive success of The Bourne Ultimatum. Discovering what exactly went wrong with Green Zone is a headscratcher but it could have to do with how similar the film sounded to the Bourne movies, which may have seemed cheap, forced, unimaginative, and unappealing to casual viewers.

Some critics felt like Green Zone just wasn't offering Greengrass at his best. Tim Robey of The Daily Telegraph wrote in his review, "Breathless, yes, but oddly disengaged, in the first Greengrass project yet where you feel he's delivering just on par." Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian wrote in his 2-star review, "Green Zone has technical flair, but we expect more from Greengrass." Perhaps Greengrass set the bar too high for himself with The Bourne Ultimatum that left Green Zone doomed from the start. It was impossible to watch Green Zone when it came out in 2010 and not naturally draw comparisons to his work on the Bourne films.

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Matt Damon & Paul Greengrass Made Another Bourne Movie Years After Green Zone

Jason Bourne received a critic score on Rotten Tomatoes of just 54%

Several critics found the Jason Bourne reboot completely unnecessary and a detriment to the integrity of the original trilogy.

After three movies together from 2004-2010, Greengrass and Damon then didn't make another movie together until they reunited for the Jason Bourne reboot in 2016, which worked out pretty well for them financially. That film nearly topped the worldwide box office gross of Bourne Ultimatum, raking in a worldwide total of $415.5 million despite receiving mixed reviews. In fact, Jason Bourne received a critic score on Rotten Tomatoes of just 54%, while Green Zone has a nearly identical RT critic score of 53%. The audience scores are nearly identical as well, dividing both audiences and critics.

Several critics found the Jason Bourne reboot completely unnecessary and a detriment to the integrity of the original trilogy. Chris Klimek of NPR wrote in his review of Jason Bourne, "An idea-starved vestigial tail on the Bourne trilogy that wrapped up nicely nine years ago." Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal wrote in his review, "Bourne used to be an anguished amnesiac. Now he remembers who he is, but this fourth episode of the franchise forgot to make him human." Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com wrote, "The film is like Jason Bourne fan fiction in how much it completely reworks things we've seen before, only with a few more years of cyberterrorism buzzwords to give viewers the illusion of not just depth but a plot."

Related Jason Bourne 6's Perfect Casting Would Pay Off A 27-Year Matt Damon Trend If Damon reprises his iconic role in Jason Bourne 6, one of his most frequent creative collaborators would make the perfect full-circle villain.

What Matt Damon's Jason Bourne Future Looks Like

Jason Bourne is still stuck in development but looks promising

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Matt Damon has expressed interest as recently as February 2024 in returning to the Bourne franchise after reading and approving a screenplay. Other than that, there have been no major updates on the status of Jason Bourne 6 other than Universal's 2023 announcement that the franchise film was officially in development. Jason Bourne 6 will either see the return of Damon's iconic character or focus on another protagonist, which could include Jeremy Renner's Aaron Cross from The Bourne Legacy. Edward Berger (All Quiet on the Western Front) is reported to be directing Jason Bourne 6, although he has not provided a status update either.

It's natural to assume that Hollywood, Damon, and Greengrass may have lost interest in the Bourne franchise for the time being, since there may not be a feasible way for the character to progress any further in a convincing way. With all the franchise sequels and reboots that are currently being made nowadays, it does seem likely that a name as legendary as Bourne will return in some shape or form during this decade. Even though Green Zone failed to capture the same lightning in a bottle as the Bourne films, the 2016 reboot proved that if you put Damon in another Jason Bourne movie, people will likely pay to see it.

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