Channing Tatum's 'Jump' From Heartthrob To Heavyweight

If you see only one movie this year, chances are Channing Tatum will be in it. We are barely three months into 2012, and already Tatum, 31, has appeared in the critically acclaimed fighter flick Haywire, the box office-smashing Valentine's Day flick The Vow and the comedic re-make of 21 Jump Street, opening Friday. Before we turn the clock on 2013, Tatum will also appear in Magic Mike, a film about his early days as an exotic dancer that he is co-producing, and G.I. Joe: Retaliation, a sequel to 2009's The Rise of Cobra.

If you think five films and the whirlabout promotion schedule accompanying each one sounds like too much for one Chan (that's what Tatum's friends call him), think again. The handsome stripper-turned-model-turned-actor-turned-producer recently announced that he will be making his foray into hospitality by opening up a bar in New Orleans, according to the Houston Chronicle. The establishment, to be named Saints & Sinners, will be located on the famed Bourbon Street — quite the hot spot for a new business venture.

What else? Much, much more, according to the New York Times, which recently profiled Tatum as a man making all the right moves toward becoming one of Hollywood's A-list leading men — if such a thing is still possible. Some have suggested that the days of brand name stars like Tom Cruise and Will Smith are quickly fading, and if Tatum fails at achieving anything near their mega-watt statuses, he won't be the first. Orlando Bloom, Josh Hartnett and Tobey Maguire are but three (out of dozens) of actors who have careened off the path from heartthrob to heavyweight.

Right now, the Channing channel is tuned to 21 Jump Street, an R-rated comedy that reportedly puts viewers into stitches with laughter. At a recent press conference at the SXSW music festival in Austin, TX, where the film premiered, Channing and co-star Jonah Hill showed up in costume — awkwardly fitting bicycle cop costume, that is. 21 Jump Street is designed to show off Channing's funny bone, a trait female fans will want to see if they are going to consider him a cut above purely romantic fluff like The Vow and Dear John.

Early reports suggest that, thanks to Jump Street, Channing can put a check in the comedy box. "[W]ho knew Channing Tatum was more than just a hunk?" Karen Valby wrote in Entertainment Weekly. "He’s the real surprise here, and the scenes of his former high school jock now bonding hard with the AP chemistry kids are among the best in the movie."

Those are prize words for an actor best known for two Step Up films. And with Magic Mike just around the corner, Tatum might want to get used to feigning humility. "It's amazing. It's such a unique movie," Hill, who has seen an early cut of Magic Mike, told E! News. "It's something you haven't seen — a world that movies have not gone far into, if at all."

A world in which Tatum, Matt Bomer, Alex Pettyfer, Matthew McConaughey and Joe Manganiello strip down to G-strings and shake their stuff? We're predicting a hit. And for Tatum, that would be one more hit towards moviedom domination.

Watch the trailer for 21 Jump Street here:

—JUSTIN JANNISE