If you are among those eagerly anticipating the next installment of the Bourne franchise, it looks the wait just got a lot longer.  Universal announced today that they are pushing the release date for the fifth Bourne movie from next August to July 15th, 2016.

The in-demand Jeremy Renner, fresh off his supporting turn in American Hustle, and with the eagerly anticipated Kill the Messenger due out this fall, will reprise his role as agent Aaron Cross, the character first introduced in 2012’s The Bourne Legacy.  Most likely due to that movie’s somewhat disappointing results both commercially and with critics, the studio is going with both a new writer and director for this new entry in the series.  Andrew Baldwin was recently hired to write the script, while Justin Lin is on board to direct.  Baldwin is a hot young writer in Hollywood, whose action script Bastille Day is currently in pre-production with James Watkins (The Woman in Black) directing and Idris Elba (Pacific Rim) starring.  Lin of course is no stranger to sequels, having directed installments three through six of the Fast & Furious franchise.

There was no official reason given for the push in release date, though with Baldwin only recently hired to pen the script and no start date announced for filming, it would stand to reason that Universal is trying not to rush the movie into production before it is ready.  If things hold the way they are now, this new Bourne movie would be opening up against Fox’s Ice Age 5 in 2016.  Taking Bourne’s place on August 14th, 2015 is Universal’s N.W.A. biopic, Straight Outta Compton.