The Bourne Ultimatum is a 2007 action-thriller film directed by Paul Greengrass loosely based on the 1990 novel of the same name by Robert Ludlum. The screenplay was written by Tony Gilroy, Scott Z. Burns and George Nolfi and based on a screen story of the novel by Gilroy. The Bourne Ultimatum is the third installment in the Jason Bourne film series, after The Bourne Identity (2002) and The Bourne Supremacy (2004). The fourth film, The Bourne Legacy, was released in August 2012, without the involvement of Damon, and the fifth film (a direct sequel to Ultimatum), Jason Bourne, was released in July 2016. Matt Damon reprises his role as Ludlum's signature character, former CIA assassin and psychogenic amnesiac Jason Bourne. In the film, Bourne continues his search for information about his past before he was part of Operation Treadstone and becomes a target of a similar assassin program. The Bourne Ultimatum was produced by Universal Pictures and was released on August 3, 2007, and grossed a total of $444.1 million worldwide becoming, at the time, Damon's highest-grossing film with him as the lead. The film received universal acclaim from critics, who considered it to be the best film in the series. It was chosen by National Board of Review as one of the top ten films of 2007 and went on to win all three of its nominations at the 80th Academy Awards: Best Film Editing, Best Sound Mixing and Best Sound Editing. Plot Following his pursuit by Kirill, Jason Bourne evades Moscow police while wounded and deals with more flashbacks of when he first joined Operation Treadstone. Six weeks later, CIA Deputy Director Pamela Landy reveals the audiotaped confession of Ward Abbott, the late former head of Treadstone, to Director Ezra Kramer. Meanwhile, in Turin, journalist Simon Ross of The Guardian learns about Bourne and Operation Blackbriar, the program succeeding Treadstone. Using the ECHELON system, the CIA detects Ross when he mentions Blackbriar during a phone call to his editor. Bourne reappears in Paris to inform Martin Kreutz, the brother of his girlfriend Marie, of her assassination in India. Bourne reads Ross's articles and arranges a meeting with him at London Waterloo station. Bourne realizes that the CIA is following Ross and helps him evade capture for a while. However, after panicking, Ross ignores Bourne's instructions, and is shot to death by Blackbriar assassin Paz on orders of