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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Alice Eve joins Men In Black 3 as younger version of Emma Thompson

I'm convinced that Men in Black 3 is one big undercover fart just waiting for the sheets to be lifted on May 25th. The film just pushed back it's planned restart date a month in order to polish up the script, but there were problems plaguing the production long before that.  However the film ultimately ends up, at least there's going to be a little more eye candy to keep me from running screaming from the theater, as Deadline confirms Alice Eve(She's Out of My League) will be joining once the shoot ramps back up.

She'll be playing Olivia, the future leader of the Agency portrayed by Emma Thompson. The story will detail her hire in 1969, giving the impression it was due to her looks. The heavy time-travel storyline involves Agent J(Will Smith) going back in time to work with a young Agent K(Josh Brolin) to help save the world.

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Sure Shots: Daniel Radcliffe; Ray Liotta joins Cogan's Trade; Men in Black 3 delayed

* Daniel Radcliffe continues to step further away from the shadow of Harry Potter by tackling interesting, mature projects. His next will team him up with writer/director Chrisopher Monger(Temple Grandin) for The Amateur Photographer, the story of  “a young man who discovers his artistic calling after being drafted by the denizens of a sleepy little New England mill town to serve as photographer of their most intimate moments.”

* Andrew Dominik's Cogan's Trade continues to rack up a fantastic cast. Along with Brad Pitt, Richard Jenkins, James Gandolfini, Sam Rockwell, and supposedly Casey Affleck, you can throw Ray Liotta's name into the hat. He'll play Mark "Markie" Trattman, the guy who runs the mob enforced poker game which eventually gets robbed. 

* Hey, Men in Black 3's been delayed again! No it's not a continuation of the previous very suspicious rumors about a raging Will Smith on the warpath, but this is the second time the film has been pushed back since they began shooting in November. This time around the issue appears to be the script, which apparently isn't ready yet. Well then why'd they start shooting??  Filming is set to resume on March 28th.  Let's just wait and see about that, shall we?

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Alec Baldwin, Sharlto Copley, Gemma Arterton to join Men in Black 3?

Man, they're pulling out all the stops just to get me interested in Men in Black 3, aren't they? Clearly this is all just for me. First they bring in Emma Thompson(whom I love) to play the modern day boss of MIB, and now reports are Alex Baldwin is negotiating to play the boss back in 1969. Remember, this third installment of Barry Sonnenfeld's sci-fi comedy series is basically a time travel story.

Along with Baldwin, Sharlto Copley(District 9) and Gemma Arterton(Clash of the Titans) are in talks for roles. Copley will once again be playing an alien, so he's pretty much trying to corner the martian market. Arterton will reportedly be Baldwin's secretary, which sounds like a cameo and far beneath her at this point. I'm sure there's more to it than that. She'll probably end up a love interest of some sort, and hopefully not drowned in oil. 

Men in Black 3 reunites Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones as agents J and K. When a villanious alien(played by Jemaine Clement) goes back in time to kill K, agent J travels back and teams up with a younger version of K(Josh Brolin) to put a stop to it. 

MIB 3 is set to begin principle photography in just a few days in New York, lasting until May of next year.

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