Featured Image Credit: Alamy
Topics: Channing Tatum, Film and TV
Poppy Bilderbeck
Channing Tatum has opened up about the possibility of whether a crossover between 21 Jump Street and Men in Black will ever go ahead.
The crossover was first announced in April 2016, and though it was confirmed to have the title MIB 23, the film never reached the development stage.
Despite this, Tatum still thinks the film 'could work', and hope is not lost for the mash-up that could see Greg Jenko and Morton Schmidt collide with Agents J and K.
Tatum expressed his support for the crossover, telling Collider's Steven Weintraub that he was 'preaching to the choir'.
'I still think it could work, I really do. And if Sony would ever really, like, I think do the hard work and figure out the producer problems that are inherent with that film, I think we can still do it,' Tatum said.
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The 41-year-old added, 'But right now, I don't know why, they're just not motivated to do it. It's a big overhead on that movie, so.'
Tatum said he thinks the crossover film is 'by and away the best third sequel to any franchise' that he has 'ever read, in [his] entire life'.
Reid Carolin – who wrote Magic Mike and upcoming release Dog, which he also co-directed with Tatum – agreed, calling MIB 23, written by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, 'one of the funniest scripts'.
'Bar none,' Tatum finished. 'And I would not say that if I did not really believe it, because I don't like being wrong, like, specifically about that,' he continued.
If the film was to go ahead and for production to begin, there would need to be a re-negotiation on multiple producer contracts, including those with Walter Parks, Neil Mortiz, and Steven Spielberg, according to Tatum.
'They're giant producers, y'know, on that. And then once everybody is kinda like, not willing to come off their fee, you end up having a producer fee that is essentially, maybe more than the actual budget on the movie,' he said.
Producers' contracts from the first MIB and Jump Street films may not be reflective of what they should be being paid if the franchises were to combine, and subsequently Sony would need to go back to the drawing board and create completely new deals, which could be a reason why the film's creation is being put off.
For now, you can catch some more of Tatum and Carolin's work in their latest release, Dog, which is set to hit cinemas on February 18. Or if you can face waiting a bit longer, then taking to screens on April 22 is The Lost City, starring not only Tatum but Sandra Bullock and Daniel Radcliffe.
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