by Justin Kroll for Deadline

EXCLUSIVE: Following the success of their hit 21 Jump Street movies, Channing Tatum, Phil Lord and Chris Miller have found their next movie on which to team up, this time focusing on a classic movie character. Sources tell Deadline that Universal Pictures, Lord Miller and Free Association are developing an untitled monster project, described as a modern-day, tongue-in-cheek thriller inspired by Universal’s classic monster legacy with Tatum set to star. Reid Carolin had the original idea for the project and wrote the treatment. Wes Tooke is writing the script.

Lord and Miller will produce for their Lord Miller production banner alongside Tatum, Carolin and Peter Kiernan, who will produce through their Free Association banner. Aditya Sood, president of Lord Miller, will also produce. This project reteams Tatum and Free Association with Lord and Miller as they previously worked on the 21 Jump Street franchise together, successfully launching both careers as superstar talents.

Although plot details are being kept under wraps about which beloved character this will focus on, like the studio’s recent success with the $130 million-grossing hit The Invisible Man the project is a bold genre reinvention of one of the studio’s most beloved characters from the Monsters Universe.

SVP Production Jay Polidoro and Director of Development Lexi Barta will oversee the production on behalf of Universal. Will Allegra will oversee for Lord Miller. Michael Parets will oversee for Free Association.

Tatum is currently in production on his directorial debut Dog, which he is both starring in and co-directing with Carolin, and produced by their Free Association. Tatum recently announced he has written his first children’s book, The One and Only Sparkella, which is in presale now for a May 2021 release.

Lord & Miller have stayed busy over the past several months on both the film and TV fronts. Over the summer they signed on to star in the untitled astronaut action pic at MGM starring Ryan Gosling. Their Apple TV series The Afterparty just announced an all-star cast that includes Dave Franco, and they are also developing a Clone High reboot at MTV Studios.

Tooke is one of the rising writing stars in town after cutting his teeth as an EP on Colony for Ryan Condal and a co-executive producer for Dave Callaham on Jean-Claude Van Johnson. He is currently developing an untitled series at Apple. On the film side he penned the recent World War II pic Midway.

Tooke is represented by Kaplan/Perrone Entertainment and Jonathan Shikora at Lichter Grossman. Lord Miller is represented by UTA and Ziffren Brittenham. Tatum, Carolin and Free Association are represented by CAA, Relevant and Hansen, Jacobson.

No idea if this film will have similarities to the 21 Jump Street films, especially since Lord & Miller won’t be writing or directing the film. That said, the first film not only showed the directing duo were more then capable at directing live-action films after only previously directing animated films, but also showed Tatum’s comedic timing and acting range in the series. See below one of the classic scenes from the film.