You might have thought, from the hilarious closing credits of this summer’s "22 Jump Street"—which ran through over twenty fictional sequels to the movie, from "Foreign Exchange" to "Mariachi School"—that filmmakers Phil Lord and Chris Miller had totally blown up the franchise. They mock the endless studio sequel factories, and even the idea of re-casting when contracts expire. Indeed, the sequel initially ended, per Buzzfeed, with the two quitting the force, with the sequel jokes a last-minute addition, put together only weeks before the film hit theaters.
But that was before the film was a giant, giant hit. On only a $50 million budget, the film (which once again stars Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum) made over $190 million domestically, only a touch behind "Godzilla," "Dawn Of The Planet Of the Apes," and even Sony‘s "The Amazing Spider-Man 2," all of which cost three-to-four times as much to produce. And so it’s with a thundering lack of surprise that we learn Sony is officially putting "23 Jump Street" into development, with "Grudge Match," and "22 Jump Street" scribe Rodney Rothman hired to pen the new movie, per Deadline.
Hill and Tatum are both on board as producers, so they’re presumably up for reprising their Schmidt and Jenko roles, but it feels less likely that directors Lord and Miller will be back. After two mega-hits in one year, the world is their oyster right now, and while Sony says that the job is theirs, we imagine they might have more tempting offers elsewhere. Still, never say never, as they are overseeing the script, and will also produce. In the meantime, watch the clip of "23 Jump Street: Medical School," the fictional version in the last film. Will Rothman’s script abide by that?