Channing Tatum says ’23 Jump Street’-‘MiB’ crossover had ‘best script’

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Channing Tatum says the planned idea for a third 21 Jump Street movie that was set to crossover with Men in Black had the “best idea.”

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Following the success of 2014’s 22 Jump Street, Sony Pictures announced that a third movie was in the works with Rodney Rothman writing. It was revealed later in the year that the new film was a crossover with Sony’s popular Men in Black franchise and was set to be called MIB 23.

“There is a project that was written and it’s still the best script that I’ve ever read for a third movie,” Tatum told ComicBook.com, while promoting his upcoming movie Fly Me to the Moon. He blamed “a lot of bureaucracy” for the idea never taking off, but said he’s still hopeful it will get made. “It’s really hard to get it made and we’ve been trying to get it done,” he said.

“You know what, I’m going to put some good juju out there and I’m going to say I would love to see 23 Jump Street,” he added. “I would love to do it with Jonah, and Jonah I know wants to do it. We would love to just get to go play again.”

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Tatum appeared alongside Jonah Hill in the 2012 action comedy 21 Jump Street and its sequel 22 Jump Street, which were inspired by the 1987-1991 Fox show that starred Johnny Depp.

According to Time, the third film was set to follow Tatum and Hill’s characters (Greg Jenko and Morton Schmidt) as they graduated out of undercover duty to become the extraterrestrial government agency’s newest recruits. Original Men in Black stars Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones were not expected to have significant parts in the sequel.

Back in 2016, Hill told Postmedia he “had the idea” for the crossover, but doubted it would ever see the light of day.

“It’s too complicated,” Hill said at the time. “They’re trying to make all the deals, but it’s kind of impossible with all the Men in Black stuff. The Jump Street films were so fun to make and the whole joke of them was they were making fun of remakes and sequels and reboots and then now it’s become a giant sequel, reboot. It’s almost become what we were making fun of and it’s hard to maintain that joke when it’s so high stakes.”

Still, even back then, he was hoping he and Tatum would get to do a third film.

“I love Channing and I love (directors) Phil Lord and Chris Miller and I love making those movies — they’re a lot of fun. So I hope it works out.”

mdaniell@postmedia.com

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