Bourne (franchise)

Bourne
Official franchise logo
Directed by
Based onThe Bourne Series
by Robert Ludlum
Music by
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release date
2002–present
Countries
  • United States
  • Germany[1] (1–3)
  • Czech Republic (1)
LanguageEnglish
Budget$490-520 million
Box office$1.637 billion

The Bourne franchise consists of action-thriller installments based on the character Jason Bourne, created by author Robert Ludlum. The franchise includes five films and a spin-off television series.[2][3][4] The overall plot centers around Jason Bourne, a CIA assassin suffering from dissociative amnesia, portrayed by Matt Damon.[5]

All three of Ludlum's novels were adapted for the screen, featuring Matt Damon as the title character in each. Doug Liman directed The Bourne Identity (2002) and Paul Greengrass directed The Bourne Supremacy (2004), The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), and Jason Bourne (2016). Tony Gilroy wrote or co-wrote each film except for Jason Bourne and directed The Bourne Legacy (2012).

Damon chose not to return for the fourth film, The Bourne Legacy, which introduces a new main character, Aaron Cross (Jeremy Renner), a Department of Defense operative who runs for his life because of Bourne's actions in Ultimatum. The character of Jason Bourne does not appear in Legacy, but mention of his name and pictures of Damon as Bourne are shown throughout the film.[6] Damon returned for the fifth installment, Jason Bourne, an original story, as were the first three movies which did not follow the storyline in the books by Ludlum even though the movies kept the title of each of the first three books.

The Bourne series has received generally positive critical reception and grossed over US$1.6 billion. Notoriously, the franchise is also famous for establishing post-9/11 gritty realism tone, heavy use of shaky cam cinematography and frenetic editing techniques (abetted by Greengrass' style) in modern filmmaking, most of which influenced action films around the late 2000s to the early 2010s.[7][8][9]

  1. ^ "The Bourne Identity". British Film Institute. London. Archived from the original on January 29, 2009. Retrieved June 11, 2012.
  2. ^ Pearson, Ben (December 22, 2020). "Paul Greengrass Might Be Done Making 'Bourne' Films: "I've Done My Stint"". Slash Film. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
  3. ^ Guaghan, Liam (September 16, 2021). "The Bourne Ranking: Every Jason Bourne Movie, Ranked From Worst to Best". Collider. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
  4. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (August 16, 2018). "'Bourne' Drama 'Treadstone' Gets USA Network Series Order, Nears Amazon Deal". Deadline. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
  5. ^ Bennett, Bruce (May 28, 2008). "Jason Bourne Takes His Case to MoMA". New York Sun. Archived from the original on April 21, 2010. Retrieved September 10, 2009.
  6. ^ Horn, John (August 3, 2012). "The intricate birth of 'The Bourne Legacy'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 5, 2023.
  7. ^ Pirrello, Phil (July 23, 2019). "How 'The Bourne Supremacy' Spawned Action Imitators". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved November 24, 2023.
  8. ^ Taylor, Andrew (June 14, 2022). "How 'The Bourne Identity' Revitalized Action Movies For the 21st Century". Collider. Retrieved November 24, 2023.
  9. ^ Gittell, Noah (June 14, 2022). "The Bourne Identity at 20: the surprise hit that changed action film-making". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved November 24, 2023.