Sony Reveals ‘Jump Street’ And ‘Men in Black’ Crossover Title/Logo
Sony Pictures hopes audiences still want a Jump Street and Men in Black crossover, because after years-long rumors, speculation, and recently confirmed reports about a mash-up of the two films, the studio has teased the picture and logo during its CinemaCon 2016 presentation on Tuesday and revealed its title: MIB 23. Check out the logo below.
MEN IN BLACK and 21 JUMP STREET crossover is official, this is the logo.#MIB23 pic.twitter.com/yVoum2uDas
— Film Gob (@filmgob) April 13, 2016
The stars of Jump Street, Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill, will reprise their cop roles in the crossover movie. However, the legendary MIB pair of Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones will not, as Variety reported last month.
The Men in Black franchise is based on the Malibu/Marvel comic book series The Men in Black by Lowell Cunningham. The first film was released in 1997, the second film, Men in Black II, in 2002, and the third film, Men in Black 3 was released in 2012. The science fiction spy films were directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, and have earned over 1.6 billion collectively.
Sony Pictures is apparently hoping MIB 23 will relaunch the Men in Black franchise to a new, younger audience. The crossover film will send Hill and Tatum into the Men in Black universe. The 21 Jump Street film was itself a reboot, and poked fun at reboot movies. The 2014 sequel, 22 Jump Street, took aim at sequels. Of the MIB 23 project, Tatum told THR, “I don’t know if that joke works three times, so we’ll see.”
21 Jump Street was directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, and scripted by Michael Bacall based on a story written by himself and Hill. It’s an adaptation of the 1987 hit television series of the same name by Stephen J. Cannell and Patrick Hasburgh. The story centers on two police officers who are forced to go undercover at a high school to prevent the outbreak of a new synthetic drug and arrest its supplier.
News of the Men in Black crossover was originally leaked during Sony’s hack crisis in 2014. The film will be directed by James Bobin (The Muppets, Alice Through the Looking Glass). Plot details of the film are under wraps.
Meanwhile, a female-driven 21 Jump Street film is also in the works. Overkill much?
That 21 Jump Street And Men In Black Team-Up Movie Sounds C… https://t.co/5HJCI49ujD | https://t.co/S3GNjZZbJW pic.twitter.com/M7tpgAsQ9z
— CINEMABLEND (@cinemablend) April 13, 2016
At CinemaCon, Sony Pictures chairman Tom Rothman presented what is being described as “an impressive” slate of upcoming films, including Ang Lee’s Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk and the Chris Pratt-Jennifer Lawrence space adventure, Passengers. Also forthcoming from the studio, threequels for Hotel Transylvania and The Smurfs, the latter subtitled The Lost Village, and starring Demi Lovato as Smurfette.
Sony also introduced The Emoji Movie, which will take place in the world inside your smartphone. The studio is also releasing The Angry Birds Movie in May. EW reports that footage from Resident Evil: The Final Chapter and Underworld: Blood Wars was also screened. Perhaps these two popular horror titles would make for a far more interesting crossover than Men in Black and Jump Street.
Previously announced Sony titles scheduled are: Equalizer 2, Bad Boys III, and a new Flatliners. Sony also confirmed during CinemaCon the following additional titles: The Girl Who Played with Fire, a RoboTech movie directed by James Wan, a Charlie’s Angels reboot directed by Elizabeth Banks, and a Barbie movie.
Attendees also watched a full trailer for When the Bough Breaks, an erotic thriller about “a surrogate-mother-from-h***” starring Morris Chestnut and Regina Hall.
Meanwhile, no release date has been given on the Jump Street/Men in Black crossover MIB 23, but filming is rumored to begin as early as June.
[Photo by Todd Williamson/Invision/AP]
