Talk about jumping to conclusions! The studio behind the film reboot of the 80s TV series '21 Jump Street' is already developing the sequel. '21 Jump Street' is the story of a pair of young cops whose youthful features make them ideal for a special operation that sends police officers undercover as high school students to break the pipeline of illegal drugs. The film, which stars Jonah Hill ('Superbad') and Channing Tatum ('G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra') won't even hit theaters until March 16th, but Hill himself spilled the beans about the in-the-works followup during the Academy Awards. He not only confirmed that the sequel was being written, but that it was being written with the green-light from the studio. '21 Jump Street,' directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, has had many press/promo screenings on the coasts, but will be having its big premiere during SxSW Film Festival right here in Austin, TX.

I haven't seen '21 Jump Street' yet, but the reactions to the early screenings have been overwhelmingly positive. Usually however, for a film to have a sequel greenlit it has to have made a boatload of money at the box office. It's not often that a sequel is greenlit before the first film is released unless it has big time name recognition. The TV series doesn't strike me as having enough built-in clout to secure a pre-release sequel. So are they banking on the reactions to the early screenings? That seems like a big gamble if it is truly the case. I suppose this film does have a few box-office-enticing elements: action/comedy combo, two leads who are big draws in those respective genres, and a great trailer. As I said, I haven't seen the movie yet, so my ability to weigh in on whether '21 Jump Street' needs a sequel is rather limited. It is important to note that Jonah Hill only mentions that the sequel is being written, so it's possible they just want to have a script ready in case the first film does really well financially and they then decide to produce the second installment.

What do you guys think? Are you excited to see '21 Jump Street?' Have any of our Spillios seen the film at an early screening that can lend us some insight on whether it should have a sequel? 

'21 Jump Street' officially opens in theaters March 16th

Source: E!