Six years after the previous film, Men In Black could be getting a fifth entry in the franchise, with Sony said to have hired a screenwriter for the script. Six years after Men In Black International came out to disappointing ticket sales, Sony Pictures is said to be working on a fifth entry in the ... Men In Black | Sony said to be reviving the franchise for a fifth film
Six years after the previous film, Men In Black could be getting a fifth entry in the franchise, with Sony said to have hired a screenwriter for the script.
Six years after Men In Black International came out to disappointing ticket sales, Sony Pictures is said to be working on a fifth entry in the sci-fi comedy franchise.
By the sounds of things, the idea is to reboot the whole thing again, with Deadline reporting that Sony has hired Chris Bremner, writer of Bad Boys: Ride Or Die and Bad Boys For Life, to come up with a script.
It’s early days for the venture, but the hope appears to be that the resulting screenplay will tempt Will Smith to reprise his role as Agent J. Bremner has a previous connection to the star, having successfully rebooted Bad Boys – another 90s franchise – and also having written Fast & Loose, a Smith action thriller vehicle bankrolled by Netflix.
Based on the comic book of the same name, the original Men In Black emerged in 1997 courtesy of director Barry Levinson. About hidden world of aliens kept secret by special agents, it was filled with imaginative creature effects courtesy of ILM and makeup genius Rick Baker.
The centre-piece, though, was the interplay between Smith, in all his youthful effervescence, and co-star Tommy Lee Jones, with all his world-weary irritation.
In a sane world, Men In Black would have remained a much-loved one-off, but its $600m success saw Sony return to it every few years with mixed results. Men In Black II followed in 2002, Men In Black III came out a decade after that.
The latter was a particular challenge for Rick Baker, who would come up with creature designs for one script, only to discover that it had been completely re-written. Still, the film was well-received, and contained some of the heart that the second film lacked.
Then came Men In Black International (2019), a standalone sequel which replaced Smith and Jones with Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson. Reviews were decidedly mixed, and audiences didn’t exactly flock to see it, either.
Time will tell whether Sony can finally re-capture the first film’s magic – or even tempt Smith back into the fold. Maybe they can sneak Jones in for a cameo while they’re at it.
More as it comes in.
