Producer explains why the Men in Black/21 Jump Street crossover didn’t work

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Once upon a time, there was the very real, if implausible, attempt at developing a crossover between the MEN IN BLACK and 21 JUMP STREET franchises. It likely would have been as strange as it sounded, but at the end of the day, the project simply couldn't come together. While speaking with Collider on the set of MEN IN BLACK: INTERNATIONAL, franchise producer Walter Parkes explained why crossover didn't work out.

I wasn’t so much involved in that first conversation. I got a phone [call] at the time from the head of the studio who said, ‘Pull over. We have to tell you the greatest idea. What about mashing up the two franchises?’ By the way, at first I thought, ‘Well, yeah, that’s interesting,’ but it was more of a Jump Street movie, honestly, with those guys going to Men In Black.

Walter Parkes added that he "wasn't surprised" when the script couldn't get off the ground. "The two franchises have such utterly different tones," Parkes said. "Jump Street takes very classic cop things and plays it very out there and crazy and broad, and we [in Men In Black] take very strange cop-sized fiction situations and play it very straight, so it was very hard to find a tone that worked — but the theory of it was great." I'm not surprised it didn't work out, but I'd by lying if I didn't say that a part of me wasn't intensely curious about what could have been.

What do you think? Did Sony dodge a bullet by scrapping the 21 JUMP STREET/MEN IN BLACK project or is it still something you'd like to see?

The Men in Black have always protected the Earth from the scum of the universe. In MEN IN BLACK: INTERNATIONAL, they tackle their biggest, most global threat to date: a mole in the Men in Black organization. Starring Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson, MEN IN BLACK: INTERNATIONAL is set for a June 14, 2019 release.