Channing Tatum’s Comments Offer a Glimmer of Hope for ’23 Jump Street’

It wouldn’t be a stretch to suggest that the Jump Street film franchise is the sole flag-bearer of the buddy cop action comedy genre in the modern era, in a time when the category is mostly considered defunct as production houses don’t bet on it much.

Based on the late 1980s police procedural TV series of the same name, the Jump Street films managed to woo both audiences and critics but still failed to get a third movie in the franchise. The film was put into development in 2014 by Sony Pictures, and it was later revealed that it would be merged with the Men in Black series of films, with James Bobin (The Muppets) set to direct. However, the project never took off, but recent comments from Channing Tatum might prove to be enough for the film to get a fresh lease on life.

While promoting his new film Fly Me to the Moon, Tatum spoke to ComicBook.com, expressing his desire to finish the Jump Street trilogy while speaking highly of the script:

There is a project that was written and it’s still the best script that I’ve ever read for a third movie.

Channing Tatum/ComicBook.com

When asked by his co-star Scarlett Johansson as to why the idea didn’t materialize, Tatum responded,

It’s just a lot of bureaucracy, kind of above the line stuff. It’s really hard to get it made and we’ve been trying to get it done.

Channing Tatum/ComicBook.com

The news of Sony’s decision to merge the two blockbuster franchises was leaked following the infamous late 2014 hack of company data, which led to private emails being made public. The emails entailed information like the company’s decision to bring Spider-Man into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, discussions around an animated Miles Morales film, and the Jump Street and MIB crossover. After all these years, that collaboration is the one project among them that hasn’t seen the light of day.

If a third Jump Street film is indeed made, it would be a no-brainer to assume that Tatum and Jonah Hill will return as Greg Janko and Morton Schmidt, respectively. The duo’s comic timing and chemistry are what made the first two films work, with Hill assuming the additional responsibility of writing the script with Michael Bacall. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller handled the direction duties on 21 Jump Street and 22 Jump Street, but it looks unlikely that the directing pair will return to complete the trilogy considering their commitment to Project Hail Mary.