Only a year after the Sony Pictures proposed Men in Black/21 Jump Street hybrid, MIB 23, announcement it looks like it could very well be hitting the cutting room floor before it has even got started according to veteran Men in Black director Barry Sonnenfeld.

Everything was set in motion from James Bobin (Alice Through the Looking Glass, Flight of the Concords) set to direct, Rodney Rothman penning the script and even a title, MIB 23 all ready to go. However, a few months later Jonah Hill put the brakes on the film due to scheduling issues. Now Sonnenfeld has come along and virtually hammered the nails into the MIB 23 coffin with a statement damning the projects existence.

Talking to Digital Spy Sonnenfeld revealed “I wish there were a fourth film. I don’t think Will Smith nor would I be involved. But I love the franchise because I developed it and created it. But I think the problem with making a fourth film, for a while they were talking about combining 21 Jump Street and Men in Black, [is] there are too many expensive players in the mix. There’s Steven Spielberg, there’s other producers, and I think the way to do it is to have new agents or something like that. Not have me, not have Will, not have Tommy (Lee Jones). Just have other adventures. I wish they would do it, I don’t know if they will.”

MIB 23

Hill, at the time of revealing the scheduling issues, also aired his opinion over the plot of a Men in Black and 21 Jump Street crossover “The Jump Street films were so fun to make and the whole joke of them was they were making fun of remakes and sequels and reboots and then now it’s become a giant sequel, reboot. It’s almost become what we were making fun of and it’s hard to maintain that joke when it’s so high stakes

We can’t help but agree with him, there is one thing poking fun at sequels and alike but this crossover would be like committing suicide to the memory of everything that made each of these franchises worth their weight in gold.