We like to think Kiefer Sutherland has been spending the last few months pointing guns at his reflection in the mirror and shouting “Damnit!” at strangers to keep Jack Bauer fresh and ready to shoot the 24 movie this spring. Sadly for him, it looks like that’s been in vain as the 24 movie clock has stopped once more.

According to Deadline, the problems are various, including scheduling issues around Sutherland’s shooting and promotional time for new TV drama Touch, trouble locking in a director and, if rumours elsewhere are to be believed, disputes over salary and budget.

While the film has been developing for ages and faced other issues during its multiple script drafts, it all looked like the production would be on track to shoot around next month, with writers Billy Ray and Mark Bomback cracking a story that would, assuming the first movie is a success, play out across a trilogy.

While there was no deal in place, Training Day's Antoine Fuqua had apparently been in real talks to take on shot-calling duties. Now, though, depending on the source, it’s either dead in the water or on hold until everything can be worked out, and not likely to shoot before the year is out.

But have faith: not only does 20th Century Fox fully realise what it has in this potential franchise (which happens to have a global audience of fans clamouring for Jack’s return), but the film also has Brian Grazer on board as producer. And he’s not a man who lets little issues like budget disagreements or studio politics get in the way of making movies happen. If he can find someone to consider getting the Dark Tower project rebuilt, he can bring Jack back to life.