Rumour: Sony developing female-centric 21 JUMP STREET spinoff

While Sony’s all-female Ghostbusters reboot has been met with mixed responses (Kristen Wiig: YAY! Melissa McCarthy: BOO!), it looks like the studio may just be doubling down on its gender-swapped franchises. At least that’s according to Tracking Board who are reporting a rumour that Sony are looking to develop a new female-centric spinoff for reboot smash hit 21 Jump Street.

According to the report, the studio has roped in Lucia Aniello and Paul W. Downs, writers/producers for Comedy Central’s critically acclaimed Broad City, to pen the this new spinoff which will be “based on the tone” of the hit 2012 R-rated action-comedy and it’s 2014 sequel which starred Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill as mismatched members of a special undercover police unit sent to infiltrate and expose a high school drug ring. The movie franchise was of course based on a classic 1980’s TV series using the same premise, but whereas the original show was pretty serious (often hilariously so), the movies were essentially spoofs, stuffed with plenty of in-jokes and meta humour.

While we can probably expect more of that – especially since that fits right in with Aniello and Downs’ style –  just what or who this rumoured spinoff would be about is unclear. /Film hypothesizes though that one possibility could see the film following Jr. Jr. and Fugazy, Tatum and Hill’s rival undercover team respectively played by Rye Rye and Dakota Johnson.

The duo had a very short appearance in 21 Jump Street, but since then Johnson has gone to become more of a household bedroom name thanks to the success of Fifty Shades of Grey. Having her headline a spinoff of a very successful franchise scripted by a genuinely funny comedy writing duo certainly doesn’t seem like a bad business idea at all.

That being said, movie potential aside, Tracking Board hasn’t exactly had the best track record when it comes to these things, so you may just want to use this story to increase your regular salt intake.

UPDATE: This actually looks like it may be legit, as The Wrap are now hearing the same thing, as well as the fact that Sony is going forward with the Men In Black crossover that was reported on a while back. As for what the latter would be about, The Wrap posits that “21 Jump Street took aim at reboots, while 22 Jump Street targeted sequels, so it makes sense that the next Jump Street movie will send-up the current trend of Shared Movie Universes by having Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum enter the Men in Black universe and investigate aliens”. The same could be said for poking fun at the whole “female led spinoff” thing, so this actually sounds like it might just work.

Last Updated: April 30, 2015