For all the complaining we might do when it comes to Hollywood’s love of reboots and sequels, on occasion, they do get this stuff right. Just look at this year’s 21 Jump Street big screen reboot (re-imagination?) – a hilarious, original, and meta (“We’re reviving a canceled undercover project from the ’80s and revamping it for modern times. The people behind this lack creativity and they’ve run out of ideas, so what they do now is just recycle shit from the past and hope that nobody will notice.”) spin on the ’80s television series that is still one of the funniest films of the year.
The film, starring Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill as newbie cops (and best friends) who get sent undercover at a local high school to root out their massive designer drug problem, left audiences wanting more, so it’s convenient that a sequel was announced back in March, with Michael Bacall and Hill set to pen a script treatment for Bacall to craft a full screenplay from. But when, oh when, would we get more of the boys and their hilarious hijinks? According to a new report, really damn soon. F**k you, science!
The Hollywood Reporter (via Cinema Blend) has posted a pretty comprehensive interview with Columbia Pictures president Doug Belgrad, who sounded off on all sorts of projects (including those already in theaters and those in development), and he offered up this update on the 21 Jump Street sequel: “ we plan to start shooting in the fall. There are very few actors…who can do romance, action and comedy. We’re in business with two of them, Channing Tatum and Will Smith.”
The end of the first film hinted at the pair moving on to college, so that’s certainly a feasible jumping off point for the sequel, and one that could provide a nice change to all the gags and humor that took place in high school (basically, more booze).
Of course, there’s still no word on who else will be returning to the film (heck, even that quote itself doesn’t guarantee that Tatum will be back, but let’s get real here – Tatum and Hill have to come back for more, and Tatum himself tweeted earlier this month that he and Hill were “working on it”), and it’s unknown if brilliant directing duo Phil Lord and Chris Miller will get back behind the camera (the pair are currently working on their Lego: The Piece of Resistance).
The THR story is packed with all sorts of juicy stuff regarding y The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Total Recall, and a supposed Jumanji adaptation that we might all just rant about in further posts, so give it a read.
Related Topics: Channing Tatum
