Comedian Chris Tucker is finally set to make his long-awaited comeback.  He has officially signed on to star alongside action star Jackie Chan once again in the third installment of the “Rush Hour” series.

     The movie, simply titled “Rush Hour 3,” will begin filming next year in France and the US.  This will be the first film Tucker has appeared in since the 2001 sequel, “Rush Hour 2.”  Reportedly, production was halted for over two years due to Tucker’s lack of interest in returning to work.  According to E!-online, the movie was slated to begin production in 2003.  Tucker, despite being offered $20 million to reprise his popular role of loudmouth detective James Carter, demanded script approval (reading the script before signing on for the film.)

     Tucker has since foregone script approval, and agreed to play the role, on the condition that the script is a close match to the screenwriter’s original pitch.  Though production was delayed, Tucker will still receive $20 million, as well as twenty percent of the movie’s back-end gross.  That compensation will also roll over to a future film yet to be determined.

    Tucker first made his meteoric rise to stardom in the mid-90’s, starring in popular films such as “Friday,” “Money Talks,” and “Dead Presidents.”  Yet, his most popular role to date has been that Detective James Carter.  He first brought Carter to the screen in 1997, and then reprised the role in 2001 for the movie’s sequel.  The movies have been his most lucrative to date, grossing over $450 million combined in theaters.

`    Tucker has not frequently been in the public eye in recent years.  Following the release of “Rush Hour 2,” he has not starred in any feature films.

    Tucker garnered headlines in April of this year when he was pulled over on a Georgia interstate for speeding at 109 miles per hour in his 2005 Bentley.  In the police dashboard video released several months later, Tucker could be heard telling the state trooper that he was speeding because he was late church. 

    He also served as a defense witness in Michael Jackson’s highly publicized child-molestation case earlier this year. Tucker was most recently seen on-camera as a feature in Mariah Carey’s “Shake it Off” video.

     ”Rush Hour 3″ is set for a summer 2007 release.