The once-discussed Jump Street/Men in Black crossover remains arguably one of the biggest missed opportunities in modern comedy, and directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller have now opened up more on why the project sadly never happened. Speaking with Rolling Stone, Miller cited the sheer amount of pressure on dealing with two franchises as one of the reasons why the Jump Street duo never made it into the Men in Black.
"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."
The comedy crossover would have seen both Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill reprise their roles as Jump Street undercover cops Greg Jenko and Morton Schmidt, respectively, with the pair being thrown into the galaxy-saving exploits of the mysterious non-governmental organization which monitors and regulates paranormal and alien activity on Earth, the Men in Black.
Details of the Jump Street/Men in Black crossover, which would reportedly have been titled MiB 23, event first emerged back in 2016, with the movie unlikely to have involved either Will Smith or Tommy Lee Jones. Nonetheless, fans of both franchises loved the sound of the idea, which came "very close to happening” before being definitively scrapped in 2019. To an orchestra of disappointed sighs from pretty much everyone.
The Jump Street/Men in Black Crossover Would Have Been ‘Very Funny’ & ‘Very Crazy’
Further details of the Jump Street/Men in Black mashup have been revealed by Lord and Miller in the past, with the pair describing the project as "very funny and very crazy." One of the early funny elements would have involved the iconic black suits worn by agents of the MiB, with Schmidt and Jenko instead given the far less cool powdered blue suits of beginners.
"One of my favorite ideas was the Men In Black, the Black Suits were like martial arts belts that you had to work your way up to black and [the Jump Street guys] were issued powdered blue Men In Black suits," Miller revealed.
The filmmaking pair has even revealed how Tatum and Hill’s bumbling duo would have found themselves working with the Men in Black. "Basically, the idea was 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 that got them teaming up to stop an alien takeover type of thing," Lord revealed. "It was very funny, it was crazy trying to manage these two franchises and not drive them both into the ground seemed like a real challenge."
While the pressure of juggling multiple franchises may have put the studio off the Jump Street/Men in Black crossover, Lord and Miller have since proven how well they can handle such a balancing act with the critically acclaimed, universe-hopping Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, which is out now in theaters.