24 Jump Street is officially happening, with Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill returning to the comedy franchise. With a new movie in the works, hopes for an original 21 Jump Street crossover have been revived.
A 21 Jump Street/MIB collab isn’t impossible
This week, it was confirmed that a new entry in the comedy franchise was in the works. The new film, titled 24 Jump Street, will see Hill, Tatum, and Ice Cube all return for the movie. 2014’s 21 Jump Street and 2022’s sequel, 22 Jump Street, were both received well. While little is known about the upcoming movie, some fans are hoping that the new film could be the gateway into a crossover many involved in the franchise once dreamed of: a collaboration with the Men in Black.
For those unaware, a 21 Jump Street and Men in Black crossover had been in the works. The project, tentatively titled MIB 23, would’ve seen Tatum and Hill finding their way into the world of the Men in Black and helping take down some aliens. Tatum was so excited for the movie that, in 2024, he told ComicBook that the script for the movie was the best he had ever read for a third movie in a franchise.
Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the directors of the first film, also spoke about the movie. Speaking to Joshua Horowitz in 2022, the duo revealed what the film was going to be about it. “One of my favorite ideas is that the Men in Black . . . Like 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,” Lord joked.
“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 added. “So, it was very funny, it was very crazy, trying to sort of like manage these two franchises and not drive them both into the ground seemed like a real challenge.”
Unfortunately, the movie never came to be, though the directing pair said that it came “very close” to happening. While the odds of it ever happening are extremely low due to the age of MIB stars Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, fans can still hope. The 21 Jump Street franchise is skipping directly over the “23,” and with a fresh jump into 24 Jump Street, perhaps the movie will feature, even if in some small way, a nod to the crossover that never was.
