’23 Jump Street’ Isn’t a Very Exciting Idea to Channing Tatum Yet

It may take a little more convincing to get Channing Tatum on board with this whole '23 Jump Street' idea. The end credits for '22 Jump Street' cleverly satirized Hollywood's obsession with milking franchises to the bitter end, seemingly a message from the writers and directors that they wouldn't be back for a third round -- that was, until the recent announcement that Sony is making a third film with directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller producing. But will Tatum be back for more?

In an interview with USA Today, Tatum says he feels like another sequel "would be a cop-out." Pun intended? Contemplating the possibilities for another outing, he adds:

College was the obvious next step for us. We had to go there. I don’t know what the next step is after college. Do we go and take down Enron? Or the government in D.C.? I feel like it’s all redundant.

Then again, Tatum is currently shooting 'Magic Mike XXL,' a sequel he wrote with producing partner Reid Carolin. He does admit in the interview that a sequel works the second time around, but a third -- he's not so sure:

The big running joke of the second movie is this is just going to be bigger … than the first time. I don’t know if that joke works three times, so we’ll see.

So two movies are okay, but three is kind of stretching it -- we have to say, we're inclined to agree. It seems like Tatum is game to return as long as there's a good idea and a solid script in place. With Lord and Miller overseeing the project, we don't think that will be much of an issue. Those guys have been known to work some magic.