Filmmaking duo Phil Lord and Christopher Miller recently offered some brand new details on the abandoned MiB23, the wild-sounding crossover that would have parachuted Jump Street’s Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill into the Men in Black universe.
Not only would it have picked up after the hilarious end credits of 22 Jump Street, with the myriad of ridiculous sequels acting as official canon, but Morton Schmidt and Greg Jenko would have been forced to wear powder blue suits before earning their stripes and being awarded with the signature black ensemble.
During an interview with Collider, Tatum was asked about the scrapped action comedy, and he offered a glimmer of hope to fans everywhere by stating his belief that there’s a chance MiB23 could still happen one day.
“I still think it could work, I really do. And if Sony would ever really, like, do the hard work and figure out the producer problems that are inherent with that film, I think we can still do it. But right now, I don’t know why, they’re just not motivated to do it. It’s a big overhead on that movie, so. [The script was] by and away the best third sequel to any franchise that I’ve ever read, in my entire life. I would not say that if I did not really believe it, because I don’t like being wrong, like, specifically about that.
There’s [Men in Black producer Steven] Spielberg, [Jump Street producer] Neal Moritz, and [Men in Black producer] Walter Parkes. They’re giant producers, on that. And then once everybody is kinda like, not willing to come off their fee, you end up having a producer fee that is essentially, maybe more than the actual budget on the movie.”
Based on how critics and audiences reacted to dire legacy sequel Men in Black: International, it became patently clear that the sci-fi series will struggle to continue on in any capacity without the presence of original stars Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones.
However, throwing the Jump Street crew into the mix has the potential to rejuvenate two properties at once, especially when it’s been eight years since we last saw Miller and Hill’s hapless undercover cops, with a third installment remaining in stasis as spinoff Now For Her Pleasure moves forward.