Man, Sony Pictures really seems intent on milking its Jump Street franchise. If you’ll recall, 21 Jump Street was an action/comedy film based on an action TV show that pretty much nobody cared about anymore. Deciding to focus more on humor than action, it reeked of a generic studio cash grab move. Thankfully, it had the then relatively unknown talents of Phil Lord and Chris Miller at the helm. Under their direction, they not only managed to make a great first film, but they managed to make an ever better film in 22 Jump Street.

Admittedly, I wasn’t very much on board with a 23 Jump Street flick. Given the way the closing credits played out in 22 Jump Street, it really seemed to beat that whole idea to the punch. However, when I heard the idea for a Jump Street/Men in Black spinoff, I thought it was a match made in heaven. Alone, I didn’t care to see any more of either series, but together, I thought there was serious potential. Sony even went so far as to bring on Alice Through The Looking Glass director James Bobin to helm the project. However, when Alice failed, the aptly-named MIB 23 sort of faded away.

While I’d love to report that MIB 23 has officially picked up again, that would be a lie. That doesn’t seem to be the case. According to a report from Deadline, Sony Pictures has just hired 22 Jump Street and MIB 23 writer Rodney Rothman to not only pen a new script for a Jump Street spinoff, but they’ve hired him to potentially hop on as director as well.

So what will this spinoff entail? Sadly, there weren’t very many details, but the few details reported weren’t promising. As mentioned above, this is a different project from MIB 23, but in addition to that, this flick seems to be another one of those gender-bending spinoffs where the main cast is female instead of male. While I’m all for having great female-led flicks, this is just the latest in an annoying trend from Hollywood to create these “me too” projects centered around females instead of males. It’s lazy, and when all said and done, pretty much only succeeds in alienating fans and shortchanging the talent involved. I’d much rather have an original female-led property with the same style and tone than one that has the 21 Jump Street brand slapped on it.

Luckily for us, MIB 23 is a project that still remains in development, so there’s still a chance that will gain traction before this female-led spinoff. The one plus side is that Rothman did a solid job with the 22 Jump Street script, and as such, there’s a good chance that it could be a good film regardless of my cynical perspective.

What do you think? Are you interested in a female-led 21 Jump Street spinoff? Let us know in the comments down below!

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SOURCE: Deadline