As one of the 21 Jump Street movie's biggest naysayers prior to its release, I never could have imagined how much laughter and enjoyment there was to experience in watching the film. And while it would be wonderful to give all of the credit to directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller – whose quirky senses of humor have given us Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs and the animated Clone High – just as much of the surprises came from stars Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum, who gave Michael Bacall’s winning script the performances it needed to win over audiences everywhere.
The obvious set up for a sequel, which was recently confirmed, was kind of a slap to the forehead, but in a recent interview with Collider, producer Neal Moritz quelled a few of the stronger sequel fears by revealing Lord and Miller are indeed attached to direct 21 Jump Street 2, and that Bacall’s script is “actively being developed for them.” The directing team was looking to get into a live-action film during the lengthy animation process for their upcoming The Lego Movie, and this seems like the perfect choice.
Moretz also added that they are looking to begin filming in either September or October of this year, looking for a release in the summer of 2014, now that it knows it can hang with the big blockbuster releases. The producer says the sequel will follow the promise of the first film’s final scene, and puts Jenko and Schmidt into college. “There’s some fun to be had in what college they’re going to," he said. "It really just starts there.” He goes on to say this will be the marriage stage in the guys' life, past the relationship building, and that a major goal is in retaining the heart of the first film.
Given the events of the last film, I don’t suppose we’ll be seeing any surprise cameos in this one, however.
