Back in late 2014/early 2015, it looked like the faces of both the Men In Black and 21 Jump Street franchises were going to change. It was a time when Sony Pictures was trying to figure out what was in store for the future of both of the brands, and that shared status led to some interesting talk about to potential of a crossover. Minds around Hollywood immediately started buzzing about the possibilities for the project, and while it ultimately turned out that the film just wasnt worth pursuing, it remains one of the most interesting What If? Hollywood stories of the last few years.
So what exactly happened? How did the project initially start developing, and what was the reason for it never moving forward? For answers to those questions, I recently turned to Men In Black franchise producers Laurie MacDonald and Walter Parkes, with whom I spoke during the recent London press junket for the upcoming Men In Black International.
Approximately two years after the release of Men In Black 3 (which made $624 million at the global box office), the franchise was still looking at how to continue its cinematic future, particularly because there was an awareness that the Will Smith/Tommy Lee Jones era had come to an end with the Barry Sonnenfeld-directed trilogy. Work was being done behind the scenes on another kind of spin-off idea, but the concept wasnt fleshing itself out property. It was at that point that the idea of a radical crossover came into the picture, and it was essentially viewed as an approach that had a crazy enough to work type vibe.
Phil Lord and Chris Miller who were just coming off of the massively successful 22 Jump Street, and had a growing reputation for turning bad ideas into great ideas put forward the idea of a movie that would blend the universes of 21 Jump Street and Men In Black, and reveal that they take place within the same world. It immediately struck Laurie MacDonald as an odd trajectory for the sci-fi heavy franchise, but she was won over by the notion particularly because of the talent of the men making the sale. She explained,
Chris and Phil are maybe the only people... because we love this franchise, and at the moment I think for us to even say 'Okay' to that was a big deal. But we love them! They're amazing. We were a little stalled on another project - we had this initial impulse, and we were having trouble getting a script 'there.' We thought, 'Oh, they're brilliant.'
It was also basically a win-win scenario for the Men In Black producers. According to MacDonald, the deal that was struck gave them the option to back out once a script had been written and that was apparently the only safety net required for the crossover to be explored. Chris Miller and Phil Lord started working on combining the two worlds with help from Rodney Rothman (who would eventually go on to co-direct Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse in collaboration with the filmmaking duo). Unfortunately, though, it didnt quite go as well as hoped. In MacDonalds words,
It didn't quite get there.
There, of course, is the determined threshold where a concept makes the leap into becoming a real potential movie and Men In Black/21 Jump Street was just never able to make it to that point. One might find that surprising, not only because of the aforementioned talent involved, but also because youd expect that both buddy cop-centric approaches would play off each other well. There was, however, a bigger issue which ultimately prevented the project from fully functioning.
As Walter Parkes explained, it all had to do with the way in which each series generated its core sense of humor. For Men In Black it was all about grounding heightened events; while for 21 Jump Street the humor called for heightening what otherwise might be mundane. Putting the two side-by-side, he explained,
After we got into it, I remember, I think [Laurie MacDonald and I] had this conversation: They are at, their heart, opposites. In other words, Men In Black comes down to taking extraordinary situations and playing them in a comedic deadpan way. Jump Street is taking very recognizable genre situations and going over the top with them. And, actually, that doesn't mesh. It was a good intention, and everyone was smart, but when you really step back and look at what's at the heart of either of those two series of movies, they're not very compatible.
If the Men In Black/21 Jump Street crossover were to happen, it sounds like it would have essentially be a robbing Peter to pay Paul situation. Going one way it would have just meant basically turning Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum) into lesser-skilled alien fighting agents. In the other direction it would have been a pair of black sunglasses-clad agents entering the world of undercover police work in schools. One franchise would have had to sacrifice its essence in favor of the other, and that just didnt really work.
So the movie didnt get made, and the Men In Black franchise decided to go the International route re-pairing Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson as the new leads but both Laurie MacDonald and Walter Parkes look back with a certain fondness on the 21 Jump Street crossover that was ultimately not meant to be. It was a funny idea, and an outside-the-box approach, and while it proved to be too great a challenge it was something they were happy to develop for the time that they did:
Laurie MacDonald: I think everyone felt creatively, 'Not quite; almost.'Walter Parkes: But worth a try.Laurie MacDonald: It was one of those things, because usually we all tire of everything trying to be made into a franchise, but to us it was actually such a crazy bold idea that's also the reason we said yes. It was just a crazy impulse that was worth exploring.
Fans of Men In Black will soon get to see the alternate direction that was chosen for the franchise, as Men In Black International is coming to a theater near you this Friday, June 14th. Between now and then, youre definitely going to want to keep coming back to CinemaBlend, because I will not only have more from my interview with the wonderfully informative Laurie MacDonald and Walter Parkes, but also my sit downs with stars Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson, and Kumail Nanjiani.
Ryan Reynolds Sent The Coolest Gift To The Guy Who Redirected Endgame Domains To Deadpool 2 hours ago Since Ryan Reynolds first suited-up as Deadpool , he has become somewhat one-and-the-same with the Merc with a Mouth.
Ryan Reynolds Sent A Gift To The Guy Who Redirected The
How Black Panther's Sterling K. Brown Feels About The New
Screen Junkies' Honest Trailer for Thor: Ragnarok reminds us that "Thor is a cosmic Viking created by nerds on acid." fun at the fact that the Thor movies embrace what a "classic Marvel
Honest Trailers - Thor: Ragnarok - YouTube
Two-thirds of this movie takes place underwater. It's difficult, too, because it's all supposedly under water, so people are swimming around. You would never have a room like this underwater.
Aquaman's Underwater Scenes Will Be 'Huge' | ScreenRant
The best horror movies of 2018, so far; The Best Zombie Movies Broken Down By Zombie-Type; The 9 Best Superhero Movies That Aren't Based On Comic Books; Cannes Film Festival opens with zombie movie The Dead Don't Die 'Fresh Air' Favorites: Our Critics Pick 2018's Best Books, Movies, Music And TV
Top 10 Zombie Types in Movies and TV - YouTube
Steven Spielberg and Tobe Hooper 's classic horror film Poltergeist is an amazing fun horror movie. It's one of my favorite horror films of all time, and now I'm learning for the first time that Stephen King almost worked on the script with Spielberg.
Steven Spielberg: I wanted Stephen King to write Poltergeist
Lord of the Rings Stars Orlando Bloom & Ian McKellen Have Mini Reunion and another15 years since the final entry in Peter Jacksons The Lord of the Rings trilogy - Orlando Bloom (who played the
Lord of the Rings reunion: Orlando Bloom and Ian McKellen
Henry Cavill enjoyed exploring a different part of his psyche in Mission Impossible Fallout Mission Impossible Fallout is set to hit the theatres soon. Henry Cavill's character August Waters is very different from the actor's portrayal of Superman. According to him, the movie has a very "edge-of-the-seat" experience.
It is departure for me: Henry Cavill on 'Mission: Impossible
Avengers: Infinity War - Every Character Ranked Worst To Best
Hot on the heels of the Venom spin-off news, it appears as though Sony is also developing a female-led Spider-Man spin-off, centered around the Black Cat & Silver Sable. Come take a look!
Is another Spider-Man spin-off in the works starring Silk?
2017 was a big year for Constant Readers, but there are more Stephen King new movie and TV adaptations coming up, including Revival, Pet Sematary, and more! Great books are timeless, web browsers are not.
Every Upcoming Stephen King Movie: IT 2 to Pet Sematary
Following a number of news stories that blatantly lied to their audience about individuals "review bombing" Disney's upcoming Captain Marvel film, Rotten Tomatoes rolled out a new redesign for their website which removed the audience interest score for films that had not been released to theaters yet.
Rotten Tomatoes Removing "Want To See" Pre-Release Function
Thanos Could Have Been Shirtless In Avengers: Infinity War
Take a look below to see an ultra emotional Julia Roberts in Ben is Back. So often these days teasers are just a bunch of quick cuts, trying to sell us with bits from different parts of the movie.
'Ben Is Back' Trailer: Julia Roberts and Lucas Hedges Star
Entertainment - Recent post. Annabelle Comes Home Is Aiming To Mess With Your Expectations; Sponsored: One of a Kind: A contemporary showplace with inviting ambience and divine updates
Annabelle Comes Home Is Aiming To Mess With Your Expectations
veronica mars movie streaming
top ten movie streaming sites
what are the best free movie streaming sites
how much is amazon movie streaming
movie streaming bandwidth
movie streaming revenue
movie streaming links reddit
ratatouille movie streaming
who is streaming the lego movie
do you believe movie streaming
would i lie to you streaming french movie
knock knock full movie streaming
movie streaming hong kong
movie queen streaming
free movie streaming 123
free movie streaming app for ipad
movie streaming harry potter
how do movie streaming sites make money
unbreakable movie streaming
movie streaming trial
movie streaming guide
does movie streaming count as download limit
sully movie streaming
movie streaming website template
the lego movie streaming
movie streaming websites 2019
zovioz.com unlimited movie streaming
columbus movie streaming
streaming movie tiger zinda hai
movie streaming market
movie streaming link
movie streaming hulu
latest movie streaming
youtube free movie streaming
movie streaming uk legal
movie streaming urls
kulari ke pantai full movie streaming
movie streaming ninja
best movie streaming sites free
how do movie streaming sites work
where is fargo movie streaming
movie streaming no account
there will be blood free movie streaming
how safe are movie streaming sites
movie streaming hd reddit
dimsum martabak full movie streaming
movie streaming vudu
movie streaming cms
movie streaming for free
krampus movie streaming
free movie streaming no sign up
where is stree movie streaming
dilan 1991 full movie streaming
susah sinyal movie streaming
lion movie streaming
elf on the shelf movie streaming
movie streaming keeps buffering
new movie streaming free
english movie streaming sites
zama movie streaming
hd movie streaming free
movie streaming disney
movie streaming online reddit
yes free movie streaming
zero movie streaming
rad movie streaming free
what is movie streaming
online hollywood movie streaming
youtube movie streaming
where is a movie streaming
new movie streaming sites
movie streaming on firestick
movie streaming apps for iphone
movie streaming bohemian rhapsody
kedarnath movie streaming
movie streaming like netflix
movie streaming for android
what is the best movie streaming app
when did movie streaming start
#watchcandy #Zgerdhiu #TvSeries #WatchJunkie #blacktech #CASAMXhostales #slay #watchingthesunset #Qesh #WatchMovies #Filma #watchpornid #filmtavsiyesi #filmizle #blavity #blackhistory365 #filmography #FreeMovies #watchhill #movietime #america #Seriale #watchobsessed #filmyorumu #watchphoto #moviesstreaming #WatchUsRise #tvroomdesign #watchestyle #movieaddict #4thofjuly #fireworks #watchos4 #Serialemetitrashqip #merica #watchalert #WatchRoss #watchdose #getsome #americanflag #murica #watchbrandname #TVSHow #Filmametitrashqip #fourthofjuly #blackking #watchblogger #watchwomen #saladetv #watchluxus #watchtattoo #blacksuccess #hostales #blackqueen #watchmaniac #Movies #blackenterprise #watchquiz #watchful #filmlover #funnytime #blackbusiness #watchenthusiasts #netflixturkiye #watchcrazy #Filma24 #putitinreverseterry #watchnerds #firecrackers #blacksocialmedia #SomosTuConexi #watchthemoonrise
