We’re currently more than halfway through 2012, and 21 Jump Street remains one of the best and most entertaining films of the year. Though those who had seen directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller's Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs had high hopes for the film, a lot of moviegoers were caught off guard by just how great 21 Jump Street was. Miller and Lord’s offbeat sense of humor was buoyed by a smart script and hilarious performances from Jonah Hill and, yes, Channing Tatum. It’s an all-around great time at the movies, and naturally audiences were left wanting more.Columbia Pictures President Doug Belgrad recently confirmed that the 21 Jump Street sequel was in development, but he confused quite a few people by saying that production would begin this fall, even though there’s no finished script and no director(s) firmly attached. Steve recently got to speak with Hill during the press day for the upcoming sci-fi comedy The Watch, and the actor set the record straight regarding the status of the follow-up.  Hit the jump to see what he had to say.
Columbia knew early that they had a winner on their hands with 21 Jump Street, as they set the film’s writers, Hill and Michael Bacall, to start working on a sequel script back in February before the film had even opened. The R-rated comedy’s $197 million worldwide haul all but cemented the fact that a sequel would move forward, and now it appears that the follow-up has a tentative production schedule, per Hill:
“We’re shooting a year from September, and Michael Bacall and I are writing it right now.â€
When Belgrad announced that production on 21 Jump Street 2 would start this fall, Matt surmised in his writeup that the exec misspoke and actually meant next fall. Hill is gearing up to start filming Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street and Tatum is poised to start shooting the action thriller White House Down soon. Though a Fall 2013 production start date ensures that both Hill and Tatum can return, the status of directors Mill and Lord coming back is less certain.
The duo is currently prepping the CG/live-action mix feature LEGO: Piece of Resistance, and they’ll likely be in the thick of production by the end of next year. We recently heard that after this summer, once the story is locked and the crew in Santa Monica moves to Australia for production, Lord and Miller hoped to stay behind and prep a live-action film while also keeping an eye on LEGO from afar.
I’m not sure if they’ll be finished with principal photography on LEGO or in a position to come back to the States for a few months to film 21 Jump Street 2 by next fall, but I sincerely hope they’ll be able to return. The first film was lightning in a bottle, and Lord and Miller were vital part of what made the comedy so damn great. I assume we’ll hear more solid word once Hill and Bacall turn in the script, but fingers crossed Miller and Lord are at least involved in some capacity.
Watch the portion of Steve's interview with Hill where he talks about the 21 Jump Street sequel below, and look out for the full interview later this week.
