Do you want more Men In Black? No, neither do we particularly, but Sony does. They’ve hired Tropic Thunder co-writer Etan Cohen to write a third instalment in the franchise about a secret government department that deals with all the extra-terrestrial activity on Earth.
As Sony did when they first started work on the planned Ghostbusters 3, they’re moving forward without any deals in place for the main stars to return. While it’s presumed that Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones aren’t averse to the idea, at the moment they haven’t actually agreed to a third MiB movie. Variety says it’s unlikely the studio would go ahead without them, but it might actually be a distinct possibility.
Other than Spider-man, Sony has fewer blockbuster franchises than the other major studios, and so with things like resurrecting MiB and Ghostbusters, they’re hoping to redress the balance. Ghostbusters was Sony’s highest grossing movie until Men In Black, which was then overtaken by Spider-man, so you can certainly understand why they’d be keen to keep the franchises alive. As a result it might make sense to do another Men In Black movie even if they can’t get the original stars to return, as purely on brand awareness it’d probably make a lot of money.
It’s also true that with Will Smith already attached to sequels to Bad Boys and Hancock, he may not be keen to sign up to yet another follow-up to one of his past glories. However THR suggests he’s tentatively interested in the film, and that director Barry Sonenfeld is also loosely attached to return.
There’s no news yet on what direction Cohen is planning to take Men In Black, although apparently Sony would like to film the movie next year, possibly as early as next spring.