Phil Lord and Christopher Miller expand on Men in Black/Jump Street crossover that almost happened

Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum in 21 Jump Street
(Image credit: IMDb)

Phil Lord and Christopher Miller have opened up on that Men in Black and Jump Street crossover. 

The project's title was unveiled in 2016, but Jonah Hill poured water over the film ever being made shortly afterward. As it turns out, it very nearly ended up happening. 

"There was, believe it or not, a Men In Black/Jump Street crossover script that was very funny and very crazy that we really adored," Miller revealed on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. 

"The idea was that Jonah and Channing [Tatum], a thing happened while they were doing their medical school adventure that got them embroiled into the world of Men in Black, and they ended up teaming up to stop an alien takeover type of thing," he added. "It was very funny, it was very crazy trying to manage these two franchises and not drive them both into the ground seemed like a real challenge."

Lord also revealed more about the plan: "One of my favorite ideas is that the Men in Black, the black suits were like martial arts belts that you had to work your way up to black, and [Hill and Tatum] were issued powder blue Men in Black suits." Plus, according to Lord, the film "came very close to happening."

The Men in Black franchise's most recent outing was Men in Black: International, starring Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson. They'll reunite again in the upcoming Marvel movie Thor: Love and Thunder

While it doesn't sound like we'll be seeing the Jump Street/Men in Black crossover, Lord and Miller did pen the script for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Part One) with David Callaham, which is due out this October 7.

In the meantime, check out our guide to all of 2022's major movie release dates to get planning those theater trips.  

Molly Edwards
Senior Entertainment Writer

I'm a Senior Entertainment Writer here at 12DOVE, covering all things film and TV for the site's Total Film and SFX sections. I previously worked on the Disney magazines team at Immediate Media, and also wrote on the CBeebies, MEGA!, and Star Wars Galaxy titles after graduating with a BA in English. 

Read more
Venom in The Last Dance
Scrapped Kraven the Hunter concept art reveals Venom connection cut from the movie
Gambit (Channing Tatum) in Deadpool and Wolverine
Channing Tatum's Gambit movie was set to be a "screwball romantic comedy" and one of its stars thinks it's "kind of odd" that it was canceled
halo
Microsoft said "'Nah'" to the Halo x Doom crossover pitched for Amazon's Secret Level, but I'm crossing my fingers for Season 2
Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse
Bad news, webheads: Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse reportedly has "no plans" to release in 2025
Star Wars
Two of Star Wars' biggest no-show movies get updates – but they're not completely promising
Men in Black
26 years after he turned down The Matrix, Will Smith teases an upcoming reboot where he will star as Neo: "Wake up, Will"
Latest in Comedy Movies
This is Spinal Tap
First Spinal Tap 2 teaser reveals release date for comedy sequel that’s over 40 years in the making
The Iron Mask
The 32 greatest swashbuckler movies ever made
Claire Danes as Juliet and Miriam Margolyes as Nurse in the movie Romeo + Juliet.
The 33 greatest movies based on Shakespeare
The Monkey
Horror movie marketing ups its game once again, as the team behind The Monkey sends a gross-out bus to drive around Hollywood
Shrek 5
Dune and Spider-Man star Zendaya is Shrek and Fiona’s daughter in the first meme-filled teaser for Shrek 5 and this is the happiest I’ve been since Shrek 2
A Minecraft Movie stills
Jack Black playing Minecraft is the most wholesome thing you'll see all day
Latest in News
The New Thunderbolts leaping into action
Marvel's New Thunderbolts* comic steals the MCU's asterisk, and the reason why is just as big of a mystery
Pokemon Go players brace for the worst as Niantic is sold off for $3.5 billion: "This game is entering its death knell"
Stamp PSP
A 16-year-old pitch for a newly discovered first-party PSP game has me mourning the death of PlayStation's Japan Studio all over again
Astarion from Baldur's Gate 3
Baldur's Gate 3 Astarion actor Neil Newbon says he "got rid of" agents who deliberately kept him away from video game gigs: "They just didn't want me to do it"
Mass Effect
Jennifer Hale says she didn't see a single line as Mass Effect's Commander Shepard until it was time to record: "It was all cold reading on the spot"
Claymore
Over 20 years later, live-action adaptation of beloved Claymore manga and anime in development by Heroes star