Richard Donner Comments on Current Status of Lethal Weapon 5

Filmmaker Richard Donner recently appeared on the Maltin on Movies podcast and discussed (via JoBlo.com) and discussed a potential fifth installment for the Lethal Weapon film franchise. Donner directed all four movies in the film series, and the last one was released almost 20 years ago in 1998. Donner is still on board for Lethal Weapon 5.

According to Donner, he wants to do Lethal Weapon 5, which is currently titled Lethal Finale. He said the planned movie is very dark, but he doubts it will happen due to problems with the legal department and negotiations. You can read his comments below.

“And I’m ready to do 5. It’s called Lethal Finale. It’s very dark. And we were all set to go and now Warner Bros. is doing their old-fashioned tricks. Not Warner Bros., there’s this guy who runs the studio who’s great but they have these people in the legal department who do the negotiating in the most counter-productive way. They should be sent to a studio and work with the producers and directors and actors, and learn what makes a film, and then negotiate. But it’s just embarrassing. And it’s too bad, because there’s a wonderful writer named Channing Gibson, who wrote 4 for me, and we have a really great story. It is dark, but I wanted to end it on an emotional note, and I don’t think it’s gonna happen. It’s heartbreaking.”

All four films starred Mel Gibson and Danny Glover as Martin Riggs and Roger Murtaugh. A TV series based on the film starring Clayne Crawford and Damon Wayans currently airs on FOX and is in its second season.