Fourth Bourne Identity is now official

Universal has thrown the switch on official development of a fourth instalment of the Jason Bourne franchise.

Word first cropped up in February that star Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass were being locked down by the studio to make at least one more film.

Now Variety says that Ultimatum writer George Nolfi will devise an original story that isn’t based on either one of Robert Ludlum’s books or the follow-ups that Eric Van Lustbader has penned.

Big money

The film doesn’t yet have a shooting date – heck, it doesn’t have a script – but it’ll likely aim for a 2010 release.

The Bourne Ultimatum was originally intended to be the capper for the trilogy, but when you make more than $400 million worldwide, we figure anyone would want to keep dipping into the well.

Still, with Damon and Greengrass both on board, there’s good reason to be hopeful that the result will be watchable.

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