That 'Men in Black/21 Jump Street' Crossover Still Might Be a Thing

It seems like only yesterday that the Internet community, and Hollywood as a whole, were knee deep in the Sony hacking scandal, when the company's most private emails were leaked all over place for us to see. Among those were various bits of news that sounded pretty unlikely, but were never exactly written off by anybody at Sony. One was the ongoing talks between Marvel and Sony over Spider-Man, which may end up happening now, and the other was a potential 21 Jump Street crossover with Men in Black. It sounded crazy, and talk about it cooled pretty quickly, but apparently the idea has some key people very interested.

While at the Golden Globes speaking with MTV, 'Jump Street' co-director Phil Lord said the plan is still sorta on the table while acknowledging how wild the whole thing would be...

Lord: "Nothing's changed. It’s still a crazy idea, and we only do things that seem like they’re going to be terrible. We’re really focusing on what’s a great story for Schmidt and Jenko and how to tell the next chapter in their lives. And perhaps use creatures from another world at the same time.”

His directing partner Chris Miller wasn't so sure, adding “We’re developing a lot of things. And they may or may not all happen, but that’s how the business works.”

So how would that work, exactly? Would Jenko and Schmidt get transported into the far flung future? The creative logistics of it just don't seem to make much sense. While the 'Jump Street' movies are silly, are they silly enough to become part of a sci-fi comedy? Probably not. But then you never know, it just might be insane enough to work.

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'23 Jump Street' to Crossover with 'Men in Black'....Seriously

Oh, those hacked Sony emails are the gift that keeps on giving. Whether it's revealing James Franco's salary or showing just how much of an ass-hat producer Scott Rudin really is, all of the skeletons rattling around in Sony's closet are being spilled out for the public. The latest nugget to emerge from all this? Sony is planning to crossover 23 Jump Street with Men in Black because why the f**k not?

Sounds crazy, right? Well, not if you're a studio that sees a way to jumpstart one flagging franchise with help from a popular one. Jonah Hill reached out to Sony chief Amy Pascal with the idea saying “jump street merging with mib i think that’s clean and rad and powerful.” Yes, "rad and powerful" is all it takes to get movies made at Sony nowadays. Kind of explains the Amazing Spider-Man franchise, doesn't it? Anyway, Pascal took to it and is so excited the film is now high on the studio pecking order, even though it isn't likely Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones will feature prominently. Two years have passed since the $620M-grossing Men in Black 3, and while that sounds like a success Sony claims otherwise. Here's what one exec told Steven Spielberg while trying to bring him around on the whole crossover idea...

“We didn’t do as well as we had hoped for on the last MIB film, but that hasn’t caused us to lose faith in the franchise. In reality, the exact opposite has occurred where we all have an opportunity to take an interim step on the way to hopefully forging ahead again in the pure-play MIB universe.”

How would this whole thing work, anyway? The two franchises don't naturally go together under normal circumstances, but the sequel-hopping closing credits of 22 Jump Street may be a clue of Hill and writer Rodney Rothman's plan. The hope is to have 23 Jump Street ready by 2016 or 2017, with Phil Lord and Chris Miller back to produce and possibly direct. [WSJ]

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'23 Jump Street' is No Longer a Joke as Sony Hires Writer

In a film that was chock full of huge laughs, 22 Jump Street's closing credits topped everything. The extended sequence followed through on the film's mocking of arbitrary sequels by taking it to a ridiculous degree, showing about two dozen increasingly ridiculous sequels stretching far into the future. 24 Jump Street in Moscow? Yeah, that's in there. Foreign exchange students? Medical school? It's pretty silly, and seemed like an easy way for Phil Lord and Chris Miller to brush off the franchise in one fell swoop. But Sony has other plans, especially after the film made over $310M worldwide.

Deadline reports 22 Jump Street co-writer Rodney Rothman has been hired to pen 23 Jump Street, but does that mean Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill will be headed to Medical School like was teased in the movie? That much isn't clear, nor is it certain Lord and Miller will be back to direct although Sony wants them back. The duo turned down a chance to direct sequels for The Lego Movie and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs after taking both animated movies to the top of the box office charts.

So there's a lot Sony has to consider now that they're officially moving forward on 23 Jump Street. For now, relive that hilarious credits sequence. Which one of these movies would you want to see most?

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