MIB 23: 23 Jump Street & Men in Black Crossover is Happening

UPDATED!

The movie that we’ve been calling the 23 Jump Street/Men in Black crossover now has an official title from Sony. Say hello to MIB 23!

Our original story from when the project was first confirmed in March follows…

During the Sony hacks of 2014, one of the most incredulous reports to leak was what appeared to be a studio overreaction to the newfound success of “shared universe” franchising: Sony wanted to crossover their very lucrative 21 Jump Street franchise—which had just grossed $331.3 million worldwide with that summer’s 22 Jump Street—with Men in Black.

However, the news of combining comedy sequels under one branch seemed to fade away with reports last year of Sony looking to reboot Men in Black sans Will Smith. But now, you better hold onto your Ray-Bans, because the latter is still happening in a film featuring Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill’s comic double team.

As broken by Variety, James Bobin of The Muppets and Flight of the Conchords fame is circling a 23 Jump Street [into] Men in Black project as his next film after finishing up the press tour for this summer’s Alice Through the Looking Glass.

While the project has yet to be officially greenlit, the movie is quite clearly happening if Bobin is already eying a June start date while Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill are confirmed to reprise their respective roles of Jenko and Schmidt in the new film.

Of course, a big secret to the success of the previous Jump Street movies is Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who directed and guided the screenplays of both of those films, as well as other subversive fourth wall-breakers like The Lego Movie. However, with the two directors tied up at Disney where they will helm the young Han Solo standalone movie that’s aiming for 2018, that duo has stepped back to merely produce while the Alice Through the Looking Glass helmer takes over directing duties.

As previously reported, this will be a soft-reboot of the Men in Black brand without either Will Smith or Tommy Lee Jones returning to their beloved roles. However, given the tone and tenor of the previous raunchy and R-rated Jump Street movies, it is unlikely that this is a Men in Black movie that’s targeting the same exact audience as the previous trilogy.

Who knows if this all works out Sony’s Ghostbusters reboot franchise could crossover too with Tatum and Hill sporting proton packs, and Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy slapping some space aliens silly?

Presumably, the crossover will target a 2017 release date, and we’ll have more once it’s confirmed.