Back in December 2018,Collider broke the newsthatTiffany Haddishwas in talks to star in a female-led spinoff of theJump Streetmovies led byJonah HillandChanning Tatum. Nearly two years have passed and that project remains stuck in development at Sony, but we may now know its working title – and it doesn’t include any numbers.
According to Deadline, the spinoff is titledJump Street: Now For Her Pleasure. That little nugget was buried in a scoop aboutWendy MolyneuxandLizzie Molyneux-Loeglinsigning on to writeDeadpool 3. The Molyneux sisters wrote the initial draft of the female-driven Jump Street movie before directorRodney Rothmanpenned a rewrite of the script, which has surely changed since Collider last reported on the project.
It’s unclear whether Haddish is still being eyed to star – orAwkwafina, for that matter – but it’s encouraging to know that the studio hasn’t forgotten about this one. The sequeldoeshail from producersPhil LordandChris Miller, who are also behind Sony Pictures Animation’s upcoming sequel toSpider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, so they still wield some serious influence at the studio.
What concerns me is whether there will be a place for big studio comedies in the theatrical marketplace once the pandemic winds down and theaters (hopefully) reopen. The prevailing attitude of late is that comedies will soon thrive on streaming services rather than the big screen, but I truly hope that doesn’t end up being the case, because there’s nothing like sharing a laugh with a few hundred people inside of a movie theater.
Sony would be wise to revisitJump Streetin some capacity, seeing as how the two male-driven movies grossed more than $530 million combined worldwide. Having said that, I agree with Sony’sSanford Panitch, whopreviously explainedthat “there’s something fun about keeping that irreverent spirit ofJump Street, but maybe having it be told through a female undercover cop point-of-view. We’ve had enough male buddy comedies. The script is really funny and has a freshness to it.”
Hopefully the studio learned a few lessons from itsCharlie’s Angelsreboot and will apply them here. For starters, you need recognizable stars in a movie like this, and they need to have chemistry together. The studio should also focus on the comedy, not the action, as I didn’t go to those first twoJump Streetmovies expecting Marvel-level set pieces. Just make me laugh! Fortunately, the spinoff’s title,Now For Her Pleasure, does just that.
For more on the Molyneux sisters' new gig writing forRyan Reynolds,click here.
