21 Men in Black?
The rumor started by the Sony hack back in 2014 has finally been confirmed; the next installment in the acclaimed 21 Jump Street franchise will be a crossover with the “all but actually dead” Men in Black franchise, with a script penned by Rodney Rathman. Out of all the crazy stuff that leaked during the hack, this rumor was probably the hardest to wrap my mind around, yet I couldn’t be more excited for it.
As far as who’s back on board of the cast and crew, both Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum are set to reprise their roles from the Jump Street movies, but Phil Lord and Chris Miller are not back to direct; instead, James Bobin, director of The Muppets and Flight of the Conchords, will take their place. While obviously Lord and Miller would be the ideal choice for directing, let’s not discount Bobin’s abilities just yet; on top of the Conchords credit (which he also co-created and wrote), he’s also been a director and writer on both The Ali G Show and Ali G in da USAiii, and I’m willing to give anyone that’s that close to Sacha Baron Cohen a chance.
What’s most surprising about this announcement is the MIB end of the deal; both Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith are not set to reprise their roles, which is fine by me since it lets Sony cast new actors that may breathe some new life into this long-dead franchise, as long as one of those new actors isn’t Jaden Smith (Jaden was rumored to star in MIB4 alongside his father back in 2012, yuck).
The Jump Street franchise has struck gold with every Hollywood cliché it’s lampooned, from reboots to sequels, so a crossover seems like the only logical step forward, and in my opinion, it’s sure to be great.
What are your thoughts on the announcements? Leave them in the comments below.