Pop quiz hot shot: What’s the best franchise movie crossover of all time? Alien vs. Predator? Freddy vs. Jason? Maybe Godzilla vs. Kong? Whatever your answer is, how do you think that movie would stack up against a potential Men in Black and 21 Jump Street crossover? Do you think fusing a deadpan comedic Sci-Fi story with the irreverent over-the-top humor of a buddy cop movie would actually work well together and become an all-time great movie mash-up? We’re about to find out when we peel the lid back and discover once and for all…WTF Happened to this unmade Men in Black/21 Jump Street crossover movie?!?
Now, y’all remember that infamous Sony email hack that went down in November of 2014? Well, among the many pieces of news revealed during the data breach was Sony Pictures’ plans to potentially turn 23 Jump Street into a Men in Black franchise crossover event. According to an email exchange between 21 Jump Street star Jonah Hill and Sony Pictures Co-Chair Amy Pascal (via WSJ), Hill described the potential franchise merger as “Clean and rad and powerful.” At that time, no script had been written yet. But, according to Columbia Pictures’ production President Hannah Minghella, that didn’t matter, stating: “We don’t have a script yet so we’ll be greenlighting the movie off the concept and the talent involved.”
Regarding the talent involved, the leaked Sony emails also revealed that MIB stars Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones would not be part of the MIB/Jump Street crossover, much to the chagrin of fans eager to see the outlandish franchise collision. Sony also sought Steven Spielberg to produce the project, but his interest or lack thereof was not revealed in the emails. However, according to the messages, Jump Street stars Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum were set to reprise their roles as Schmidt and Jenko, respectively. Meanwhile, directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller would return to helm the franchise crossover after directing both 21 and 22 Jump Street. Miller and Lord were also slated to produce the potential crossover spectacle.
In this episode of WTF Happened to this Unmade Movie, we dig into one of the coolest unmade projects in years!
