Audiences have been waiting for ages for a concrete status update on the comedy buddy-cop sequel “23 Jump Street,” and star Channing Tatum has given a blunt answer about why it’s unlikely to happen, and is specifically pointing fingers toward Neal M. Moritz for refusing to reduce his hefty producing fees, while everyone else involved has.
In an interview with Variety to promote his new true-crime comedy “Roofman,” Tatum said the “23 Jump Street” script is “sincerely the best script I’ve ever read for me and Jonah [Hill]…I get asked more about ‘Jump Street 3’ than any other movie on the face of the planet that I’ve ever done. I don’t think it’ll ever happen. The problem is the overhead. It would cost as much as the actual budget of the film, if not more, because of all the producers involved. It’s just too top-heavy. It falls over every time.”
Tatum adds that he, Jonah Hill, and directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller agreed to smaller producer fees; however, the main problem is that Moritz’s compensation has made the sequel financially impossible, as Tatum spotlighted those financial woes: “Neal’s price for a producer fee is huge. And to be honest, that’s what’s killing it.”
Hill and Tatum, of course, played a pair of undercover cops trying to take down drug dealers while posing as high school and college students. A satirical revival of a TV series that briefly featured cameos from original actors Johnny Depp and Peter DeLuise.
A dollar amount isn’t mentioned, but if the fees were on par with the production budget, you could understand why Sony Pictures would be underwhelmed with the prospect of having to spend that kind of money on a raunchy comedy sequel. Hopefully, things can get ironed out, but from the way Tatum is telling things, Moritz won’t be giving up those hefty fees anytime soon.
Christopher Marc is lead writer at The Playlist and the primary engine behind our daily news coverage. Chris is based in Canada and tracks everything from Marvel and Star Wars developments to arthouse acquisitions and festival buzz with equal enthusiasm and an instinct for the story readers actually want to read.
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