The Story Behind the '21 Jump Street' and 'MiB' Crossover That Never Was
This was the expanded universe movie I was most excited to see.
Two of my favorite film franchises are the 21 Jump Street world and Men in Black. Both are controlled by Sony. And there was a time when they both ruled the box office.
The Jump Streets helped launch Lord and Miller into the stratosphere (with help from Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs), and Men in Black was part of the reason Will Smith became a household name in the 90s. Both franchises are action comedies with similar tones, though Jump Street has pushed some real boundaries in meta-humor. In the mid-2010s, there was a prevalent rumor that we were going to get a spinoff with both casts tossed together.
Though the movie never happened, the project was brought up in the podcast Happy Sad Confused, and Lord and Miller addressed it. Turns out, this movie almost happened.
Miller began the conversation by saying, "There was a—believe it or not—a Men in Black and 21 Jump Street crossover script that was very funny and very crazy that we really adored."
Lord expanded on this idea, saying, "One of my favorite ideas is that the Men in Black—the black suits were like martial arts belts that you had to work your way up to black and that [Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum] were issued powder blue Men in Black suits."
This sounds hilarious, and a fun way to see the guys level up in their crime enforcement. But we never got a third Jump Street movie, and Men in Black went international in another direction.
"It was basically—the idea was that Jonah and Channing, a thing happened while they were doing their medical school adventure that got them embroiled into the world of Men in Black and they ended up teaming up to stop an alien takeover type of thing," Miller said. "So, it was very funny, it was very crazy—trying to manage these two franchises and not drive them both into the ground seemed like a real challenge."
Sadly, this movie never happened. But it sounds like it would have been fun.
What's a crossover movie you wish was made? Let us know in the comments.
Source: Happy Sad Confused
