Jonah Hill

Class is in session. Sadly, legions of kids know this to be true, as they begin to head back to school for another year of filling their brains with knowledge.

It’s been close to a year since we learned True Detective and Beasts of No Nation director Cary Fukunaga had officially set a Netflix return to direct Jonah Hill and Emma Stone in new dark comedy series Maniac, which at long last is finally moving forward. Reports suggest that production will take place later this year, potentially setting a 2018 premiere.

‘But what I really want to do is direct.’ For many dilettante actors hoping to try their hand on the other side of the camera, these have been famous last words, the first omen heralding an indulgent personal project destined for a coolly-received festival debut. But all it takes is a performer with their head on straight and a little filmmaking knowhow to skirt the many pitfalls of the actor-turned-director’s debut. Jonah Hill seems pretty self-aware, he’s got a good sense of humor, and he’s worked with such fine directors as Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese, and the Coen brothers. The news that he’s preparing his first outing as a director may be cause for optimism.

You’ve got to hand it to Jonah Hill and James Franco, both of whom manage to effortlessly glide between comedic and dramatic roles. It’s not easy to be a popular goofball and an Oscar nominated “serious” actor, but somehow these two have managed to pull it off. Their latest film, ‘True Story’ is unique in that it is the first project to cast them together in dramatic roles. When you watch the first trailer for film, you can be forgiven for expecting them to drop the dramatic stare-downs and start riffing with each other at any moment.

‘23 Jump Street’ is a sequel that is surely happening, this despite all the many hilarious sequel jokes during the ‘22 Jump Street’ end credits. The franchise is just too popular to let die. But, how exactly would you sequelize ‘22 Jump Street’, which did a pretty effective job of sending up sequel cliches? Well, you send Jenko and Schmidt to the Men in Black program, of course.

'22 Jump Street' gave us one of the most hilarious end credits sequences in comedy history, and one that seemed to signal to audiences that Phil Lord and Chris Miller were done with making 'Jump Street' movies, as it delivered concepts for about 20 fake sequels. But not so fast: '22 Jump Street' writer Rodney Rothman has been hired to return for '23 Jump Street,' so it seems like Ice Cube's threat to send our favorite undercover cops to medical school might not be out of the question.

A pair of wildly different sequels to surprise hits arrive in theaters this weekend—one for kids that adults may also like, the other about adults who disguise themselves as kids.