Worst Movie News Of The Day - Men In Black Jump Street Crossover May Not Happen
Jonah Hill's got some bad news.
I absolutely adore the Jump Street movies. Actually, I love everything Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the masters of taking impossible ideas and turning in self-aware masterpieces, have done; The Lego Movie and Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs are superbly zany animations and I'm deliriously excited to see what they do with Han Solo, but Jump Street's been the biggest shock.
It looked just like a needless reboot of a TV series memorable only for staring a then-rising Johnny Depp, but instead became one of the most inventive action comedies of the past decade, with a smart underlying jab at the cynical motivations behind it. And then the even more needless sequel became a commentary on follow-ups posing as remakes and franchise escalation.
So, even though Lord and Miller wouldn't be calling the shots, I was incredibly excited about the prospect of the Men In Black crossover, making Jump Street something of a ridiculous franchise mechanic. Sadly, the bonkers film that's been speculated about since the Sony email leaks is looking like it may not happen. Jonah Hill, talking to the Toronto Sun, revealed that it's a little more complicated behind-the-scenes than you'd expect:
“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.”
Sounds like there's not only rights smudging needed to get the sci-fi series linked, but a trepidation on the part of the creatives on whether they can do something original that keeps pushing the Jump Street brand. Never say never, but this one may be a long way off.