Prepare to put on the last suit you'll ever wear, Sony's next Men in Black movie is due to start shooting in June with a whole new cast and storyline for the intergalactic adventure.
For those who have been neuralyzed, 1997's Men in Black focused on a group of suited individuals who repeatedly save the planet from alien forces right under our noses. Starring Tommy Lee Jones as the surly Agent K and Will Smith as sarcastic newcomer J, it became an overnight success. An equally popular sequel brought everyone back for Men in Black II in 2002, but a decade later, Men in Black 3 failed to be the revival the studio expected. Here's hoping it's fourth time lucky as Sony powers through with its own spinoff/reboot of the main franchise.
Related: How the Men in Black Movie Franchise Can Continue
According to Omega Underground, Men in Black has pushed its start date from May, but will officially start shooting on June 18th in London. The movie is also still on track for a June 14th, 2019 release date, meaning it has just under a year to wrap the whole thing up and hit our screens. That's a pretty big ask considering fans know literally nothing about the cast, plot, or whether it is a spinoff/revival. After the mixed reviews of Men in Black 3 , there were talks of bringing Smith back and doing a crossover with the popular Jump Street movies, however, talks stalled and it left the series in the disarray it finds itself in now.
While a reboot completely away from the ideas and stars that made the first era of the franchise may sound like a disaster waiting to happen, you only have to look at the runaway success of Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle to see that Sony can sometimes work its reboot magic on a long-forgotten story. Added to this, the rumor mill has teased that Hollywood megastar Chris Hemsworth is circling a major role in the movie, which must be good for drawing crowds into theaters. However, let's also not forget that Hemsworth starred in that maligned all-female Ghostbusters reboot from the same studio, so the jury is out on how Men in Black will fare.
As for what else fans can expect from Men in Black (4?), this time the agency is scheduled to swap New York City for London and other European cities like Berlin, while the lead actress is reported to be a woman of color. Could we see the ever popular Tessa Thompson suiting up to star alongside her Thor: Ragnarok co-star? Elsewhere, Sony must surely learn from the mistakes of Ghostbusters, so if it is going to bring back Jones and Smith in any capacity, it had better be more than meta cameos where they aren't playing their original characters. There is certainly plenty of promise of where the Men in Black series could go next, but fans will have to wait just a little bit longer.
More: 15 Things You Didn’t Know About Men In Black
Source: Omega Underground
