Certainly one of the odder tidbits from the Sony Hack last month was that there were talks and plans of using the next instalment of the 21 Jump Street franchise (tentatively titled 23 Jump Street) as a launching pad for a Men in Black reboot, by crossing the two series over. In fact, of all the stories, it was the one that seemed the least likely.
But if you ask Phil Lord and Chris Miller, directors of 21 Jump Street and its sequel, it is still a real possibility.
“Nothing’s changed,” Lord told MTV on the Golden Globes red carpet. “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!”
“We’re developing a lot of things, you know,” Miller added. “And they may or may not all happen, but that’s how the business works.”
The original Men in Black series began in 1997 and saw Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones as agents for a secret organisation that dealt with alien interactions. Despite making $590 million worldwide, its 2002 sequel Men in Black II was disappointing to both critics and fans and took just $441 million. The final part of the trilogy, MIB3, brought home $624 million worldwide (70% of which was overseas) when it was released in 2012.
Would you want to see a 21 Jump Street/Men in Black crossover movie? Or is the idea just too insane?