The Bourne Legacy didn't exactly set the box office on fire with Jeremy Renner taking over the spinoff from franchise lead Matt Damon, but Universal still has reason for optimism. The $113M domestic haul ($276M worldwide) is the lowest of the series, but it's only a shade under what Damon did in The Bourne Identity. Not bad for what is essentially the start of something completely new, with a different actor and totally different character. Producers began talking about a sequel soon after a strong debut, and now they're moving forward while also heading in a different direction.
Deadline reports that Anthony Peckham has been hired to pen the fifth installment of the 'Bourne' franchise. This is a pretty big move because Tony Gilroy has been involved with writing every chapter up to this point, before moving into the director's chair for 'Legacy'. Peckam is a mixed bag scribe who helped jumpstart Sherlock Holmes, suggesting Universal may be looking for a bigger and more blockbuster-friendly film this time around. Peckam also wrote the Nelson Mandela drama Invictus, which co-starred Matt Damon, but those expecting the actor to return to the black ops world of 'Bourne' will be waiting a long time. While Damon mostly has had encouraging words for Renner and the series' new direction, he's been adamant about not returning without director Paul Greengrass.
The untitled 'Bourne' film will pick up after the last one, and continue following Renner's Aaron Cross character, who was targeted for assassination by his old bosses in Operation Outcome, an offshoot of the same mysterious agency that plagued Jason Bourne. It's still pretty early on so there's no word on co-stars Edward Norton and Rachel Weisz.
