Both men believed that the story of Bourne, a man whose memory is wiped clean, masking his involvement in a CIA black ops initiative, had reached a satisfying conclusion with “The Bourne Ultimatum.” That film ended with Bourne piecing together his backstory. That’s rare.”įor awhile though, it looked like Damon and Greengrass were done with the series. Put his face on a poster and people show up. “He is one of the few actors you can say with confidence is on the A-list. “It shows the star power of Matt Damon,” said Jeff Bock, an analyst with Exhibitor Relations. Usually, the percentage of people who say the star compelled them to see the movie is in the single digits. According to studio surveys, Damon’s involvement was the second most frequently cited reason that people bought tickets to “Jason Bourne.” Those finding were mirrored by ComScore’s Post-Track survey of ticket-buyers, with 28% of respondents citing the “actor in the lead role” as their motivation for seeing the sequel. “Having the original cast and crew satisfied a lot of people.”

“After nine years of waiting, audiences were ready to find out what happens next,” said Nick Carpou, Universal’s domestic distribution chief.

Audiences were eager to welcome the returning duo the reunion powered the sequel to a hefty $60 million domestic debut and a $50.1 million overseas launch, the best ever foreign opening for any film in the series. īut what choice did the studio have? “Jason Bourne” snaps a nearly decade-long hiatus, bringing Damon and Greengrass triumphantly back into the fold. Given that the ass-kicking Bourne is a man of few words, that means that Damon received roughly $1 million for every line of dialogue. For “Jason Bourne,” the latest installment in the amnesiac spy saga, the studio shelled out a reported $26 million for the actor’s services. That gives Damon a massive amount of clout when and if Universal decides to continue to be in the Bourne game. “This is the role that transformed him from an indie film darling into a bona fide movie star.” “Matt Damon is Jason Bourne,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at ComScore. No other tough guys will do. It’s also likely that for Damon to agree to put his body through the car crashes, hand-to-hand fight sequences, and Parkour-heavy chase scenes that define the Bourne series, he will continue to demand that Paul Greengrass be orchestrating the on-screen mayhem from behind the camera. They want Matt Damon crushing bones and uncovering government conspiracies. When it comes to Jason Bourne, audiences accept no substitutes.

Cast of bourne identity