Crossovers are often heralded as the death-knell for any ongoing franchise, with the key creatives having run out of ideas to the extent the only way to keep milking the cash cow in question is by smashing it into another recognizable IP. While that’s proven to be true on many occasions, the prospect of MiB23 was far too good to pass up, and yet it slipped through everyone’s fingers.
Having delivered back-to-back comedy classics with 21 Jump Street and its sequel, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller set their sights on Sony’s ailing Men in Black, with plans afoot for Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum’s bumbling undercover cops to be recruited by the titular organization to rid the earth of the scum of the universe.
Even thinking about it is mouthwatering stuff, but the proposed sci-fi blockbuster ended up falling by the wayside. In a new interview with Rolling Stone, the dynamic duo behind the Spider-Verse saga reflected on the one that got away.
“It was a cool idea. I think most likely that opportunity has passed, but it was very fun. It was crazy. It was a crazy thing to try. One of those things where, if it works, it’s incredible. And if it doesn’t, you can take down two franchises. And so you know, the pressure was very high.” And so it was a missed opportunity. But there are a lot of those in life.”
Calling it “a missed opportunity” might be the biggest understatement of the year, especially when the Jump Street saga has gone radio silent for years, while audiences were instead rewarded with the critical and commercial disaster Men in Black: International. Alas, it simply wasn’t to be, but that doesn’t mean we can’t still be mad about it.
