After the box office hit, 21 Jump Street, was rebooted, and its aptly named sequel 22 Jump Street, fans have been desperate to see the next installment in the series following the hilarious end credits scene. Well, the good news is there is another movie releasing in the coming years, but it isn’t what you would have ever expected.
At Cinemacon 2016, Sony Pictures chairman, Tom Rothman, announced a plethora of new titles that would be hitting the big screen in the future. New titles such as Passengers, starring Chris Pratt and Jennifer Laurence and another huge sequel (that I pray to every movie god that exists that it not be a letdown), the next chapter in the cult classic flick Trainspotting. Along with these huge announcements we were given the details of the new Jump Street movie, and after reading about it, this is something that I could never have dreamed of but I couldn’t be more happy with. Imagine this masterpiece in your mind. Jump Street, but instead of chasing the bad guys who are trafficking drugs to students, they are chasing aliens with the men in black. That’s right, the world of Jump Street is set in the same universe as the Men in Black movies, leading to the film’s perfect title: MIB 23. Now more than ever is the time to be most careful about not getting your memory erased so that you can continue to get hyped knowing that this is in the works. Can you tell I’m not happy with this idea?
The downside of this news is that the directors of the previous movies, Phil Lord and Chris Miller, are not returning as they are caught up in directing some small movie which you’ve probably never heard much about, the stand alone Han Solo movie. The new director, James Bobin has directed movies such as the latest Muppets movie and the yet to be released Alice in Wonderland: Through the Looking Glass. Along with the new director comes some new casting that will sadden some people, but could also bring some new light into a series that has spanned over three movies. It was stated that Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones would not be reprising their roles as Jay and Kay, but instead they would be bringing in new actors who have yet to be cast. We will miss you, Will, and all you have done to monitor aliens on our earth.
While we can all hope that Bobin does a wonderful job as he surprisingly did with his take on the Muppets, I hope putting my faith in this movie will pay off as I am a fan of both the franchises and would love to see how they coexist on the screen. Most of all, I’m keen to see a new cast of younger men in black agents who will try to live up to the prestige that Smith and Jones brought to the first trilogy.