7 Abandoned Movie Crossovers (And Why They Fell Apart)

The film industry is currently littered with cinematic universes, from Marvel to DC to Star Wars to even the likes of LEGO, and there are many more in development, like Call Of Duty, Hasbro, and Valiant Comics.

It really does feel like every major studio is desperately scrambling to pull together their own major movie crossover, and while there are many successful examples of this, there are even more that have fallen by the wayside over the years.

Mashing two separate franchises into one movie is a logistical nightmare, so it's not surprising to learn that many of these attempts fall apart early in the process, and some of the time, barely get further than the "initial conversations" phase. Rights issues, differing tones and actor salaries are just a few of the hurdles facing these budding crossovers, problems that - generally - prove impossible to overcome.

So while Batman fighting Iron Man would be awesome, and Sherlock Holmes schooling Harry Potter would win all the Oscars, it's really not as simple as signing a few contracts, and these seven failed movie crossovers can attest to that.

The Crossover: After the success of 22 Jump Street, it was widely expected that a third entry in the series would be moved into production. And sure enough, a few months after the film opened, Deadline reported that 23 Jump Street was a go.

But then, a twist in the tale: in December 2014, Sony's systems were hacked, resulting in a ton of sensitive information about the studio's plans leaking onto the internet. Included in this information were conversations about a Men In Black/Jump Street crossover movie, a project that was formally acknowledged by Jump Street directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller shortly after.

While some things about the movie remained fuzzy - it was reported that Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones would be replaced with younger actors, leaving the Men In Black side of things up in the air - Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill were fully onboard with the idea, and over the next couple of years, things started to come together for the so-called MIB 23.

Alice Through The Looking Glass helmer James Bobin was attached to direct, and 22 Jump Street scribe Rodney Rothman even turned in a script. But it wasn't to be.

Why It Fell Apart: While the idea for this crossover was talked about for quite some time - and, as already mentioned, even had several key players attached - it just sort of floated around for a few years, never fully picking up steam (i.e. started shooting or filling out its cast). And that's always a bad sign.

And sure enough, in August 2016, Jonah Hill stated that the movie was unlikely to happen, citing the complex nature of mixing these two huge franchises into one movie:

“It’s too complicated. They’re trying to make all the deals, but it’s kind of impossible with all the Men in Black stuff. The Jump Street films were so fun to make and the whole joke of them was they were making fun of remakes and sequels and reboots and then now it’s become a giant sequel, reboot. It’s almost become what we were making fun of and it’s hard to maintain that joke when it’s so high stakes.”

After this point, the project went dead silent, with no progress (or at least, reported progress) being made. When a more straightforward Men In Black sequel was announced - later revealed to be the upcoming Men In Black: International - MIB 23 seemed like it was no more.

We learned that it was officially cancelled in January 2019, confirming what everyone had suspected for a while.