It took more than a decade, but the gang is getting back together. Sony Pictures has confirmed that 24 Jump Street is officially in development, with Ice Cube, Jonah Hill, and Channing Tatum, and Ice Cube all in talks to return for the third installment of the beloved R-rated crime comedy franchise.
Rodney Rothman will direct the film from a script he co-wrote with Hill and Meghan Malloy. Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who helmed both the 2012 original and its 2014 sequel, are returning as producers alongside Neal H. Moritz. No plot details have been revealed, and it remains unclear why the number 23 was skipped entirely, though given the franchise’s signature self-aware humor, the answer is likely buried somewhere in the joke itself.
The Jump Street films are loosely based on the 1987 Fox drama of the same name, which ran for five seasons and launched Johnny Depp to stardom. Lord and Miller reinvented the premise as a raunchy, self-referential buddy cop comedy, with the first film grossing over $200 million worldwide and its 2014 sequel topping that with $331 million. Together the two films surpassed $500 million globally.
A third installment has been in development limbo for over a decade. An earlier version, designed as a crossover with Sony’s Men in Black franchise, was shelved due to the complexity of combining the two properties. Channing Tatum has spoken glowingly about that scrapped script for years, calling it “the best script I have ever read for a third movie.” A separate attempt stalled over behind-the-scenes disputes before the project was ultimately reconceived as what is now 24 Jump Street.
No release date has been announced.