The directors of 21 Jump Street, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller talk about the Men In Black crossover that never happened. The 21 Jump Street remake, directed by Lord and Miller in 2012, starred Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum as undercover detectives attempting to infiltrate a high school drug network. The film was a great hit, grossing over $200 million worldwide on a budget of $42 million. In 2014, they released 22 Jump Street, a sequel that sent Hill and Tatum back to work on a fresh case in college. Following this, rumors began to surface that the Jump Street series was planning a crossover with Men In Black, another high-profile Sony product.
MIB 23
Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones play as spies entrusted with monitoring and controlling extraterrestrial activities on Earth in the Men In Black franchise, which began in 1997. Men In Black II was released in 2002, while Men In Black 3 was released in 2012. Smith and Jones reprised their roles in both sequels. Following the success of the Jump Street films and Men in Black 3, speculations of a crossover were acknowledged. MIB 23 served as the working title. The anticipated crossover, however, was finally cancelled after a few years in development.
The crossover that never was:
Lord and Miller discussed the attempted 21 Jump Street/Men In Black crossover. During a recent visit on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Lord said there was
“A Men In Black/Jump Street crossover script that was very funny and very crazy that we really adored. Hill and Tatum would have been working on a case in medical school when they were involved with the Men In Black, according to Lord. The challenges of uniting the two businesses, however, were enormous. Nonetheless, it appeared that the crossover was on the cards, with Miller revealing that “it came very close to happening.”
For a variety of reasons, the 21 Jump Street/Men In Black crossover project was abruptly halted. While Hill and Tatum were on board, Smith and Jones from the Men In Black team were not. Producer Walter Parkes finally dismissed the notion as “an impossible match-up,” and the crossover was cancelled.
Source: Happy Sad Confused
