In social-media-meme parlance, want to feel old? (Uh, no?) Shanghai Noon came out in 2000.
A fish-out-of-water farce, complete with mismatched buddies and a punny title, the Tom Dey movie arrived in May of 2000, sealing star Jackie Chan’s ability to successfully partner with even the most unexpected of comedic pals, and giving Owen Wilson a chance to be wacky in a way that didn’t require the presence of his brothers or Ben Stiller. The film was a hit, making almost $100 million at the global box office, and spawning a sequel (Shanghai Knights) in 2003.
Despite Hollywood’s love of sequels—and even bigger love of trilogies—another film never quite materialized, despite chatter following Knights’ release, when word got out that the creative team wanted to make a third (and presumably final) film called Shanghai Dawn. It would all come full circle, but nothing ever came of it. Until now, more than a decade later, which could honestly make for a much more interesting film. (Read: they’re older now!)
Tracking Board reports that Shanghai Dawn is “officially moving forward,” and that stars Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson are both “set to reprise their roles” in the feature, a note we will take with a grain of salt, as the film is also currently still looking for a writer to pen the thing. MGM, however, seems gung ho on the project (finally, guys!), and will hopefully lasso up a scribe soon enough.
There’s no word on what Shanghai Dawn might entail, but considering that Chan and Wilson’s characters have already traveled to the American West and England, the world is kind of their oyster, though we’re tempted to suspect that they’ll be traveling further East (dawn, hello), perhaps ending up in China, home to Chan’s Chon Wang. (You may remember that Shanghai Knights ended with a big reference to Chon’s family, which certainly implies a need to go home.) A reunion tale sounds like a very appropriate way to round out a series that has been waiting so long for a conclusion (a new dawn, if you will).