Culture

First Details About ’24 Jump Street’ Suggest It Could Actually Be A Crossover With Another Beloved Dormant Franchise

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Sony Pictures

Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill are reportedly set to return for '24 Jump Street'


Earlier this summer, it was reported that — 12 years after the film was released in theaters — that a sequel to 22 Jump Street was in the works, with Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill and Ice Cube all set to return. New reports about the film’s script has sparked speculation that it could be a crossover with the Men in Black franchise.

Following the success of 21 Jump Street and 22 Jump Street, a third film in the franchise was put in development and was reportedly planned to be a crossover with the Men in Black franchise. The working title for the film was MIB23, but the project was abandoned after Sony’s 2014 hack leak and Men in Black: International bombing at the box office in in 2019.

Tatum said at the time that the script was “the best script that I’ve ever read for a third movie.” Given that the Men in Black franchise later attempted a reboot with Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson in the lead roles, it’s fair to assume that the crossover would have also featured new MiB leads instead of previous franchise star Will Smith.

Comments from 24 Jump Street producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller has fans speculating that the Men in Black crossover is being revived

Combined with the stalled development of the third movie, a lot changed in both Tatum and Hill’s careers since 2014, and the Jump Street franchise went dormant. When announcing 24 Jump Street, a producer of the film shared a copy of the script that featured the tagline “It took so long to make we had to skip one.”

“We developed a 23 Jump Street, and I think this is just out of respect for that,” franchise directors and producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller told Empire of the film’s title, 24 Jump Street.

“We’re calling this 24, out of respect for the dead. There was a script that was made years ago. And the dust has been blown off of it, and it’s being rewritten right now.”

At the time the film was announced, the consensus from the Hollywood trades was that 24 Jump Street was a new project, separate from the planned MiB crossover. Lord and Miller’s comment that the script that was “made years” is now being rewritten has confused fans, however, and left some wondering if it’s the Men in Black crossover that’s being revived.

The Jump Street films have combined to gross over $500 million at the global box office, with the first movie making more than $200 million worldwide, and the sequel hauling in over $331 million.

While Lord and Miller — who recently helmed Project Hail Mary — will be returning as producers, they will not be directing the third film in the franchise, with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse filmmaker Rodney Rothman taking over directorial duties.