They’re reviving a canceled undercover police program from the ’80s and revamping it for modern times… again! Yes, twelve years after 22 Jump Street, undercover cops Schmidt and Jenko are finally coming back (with Captain Dickson, too) for 24 Jump Street, which is officially in the works at Sony. And what’s more, as Variety reports, Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill, and Ice Cube are already in talks to return, with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse‘s Rodney Rothman on to direct and Phil Lord and Chris Miller back producing. Check out fellow producer Neal H. Mortiz’s tongue-in-cheek Instagram announcement below;
So there you have it, we’re skipping 23 Jump Street because, and we quote, “it took so long to make we had to skip one.” Which, honestly, is fair enough. And, if you want to get down to brass tacks, then technically you could argue that 22 Jump Street‘s generously lengthy end-credits sequence(s) — in which Schmidt and Jenko go undercover in medical/culinary/dance school and even go to space — probably has just about enough material to cover a whole 23 Jump Street, anyway. Still, the upshot is that amid a recent resurgence in out-and-out big screen blockbuster comedy, from The Naked Gun to Scary Movie, someone at Sony has had the good sense to bring the $500 million+ grossing, critically and generally beloved crime comedy franchise back at long last for a third outing.
Jonah Hill has written the script for 24 Jump Street alongside Rothman and Jump Street writing department alum Meghan Malloy, with Variety noting that currently Channing Tatum only has an offer to return for the comedy threequel. Whether any of what would’ve once been 23 Jump Street will make it to our screens remains to be seen (those holding out for that Men In Black crossover may well be holding out for a very, very long time), but given how hard Tatum has been beating the drum for more Jump Street in recent years, consider us pumped for whatever’s in store for Schmidt and Jenko next.
