The Men in Black film series has had a sporadic release schedule, to say the least. Men in Black 2 followed five years after its predecessor’s release in 1997, Men in Black 3 came 10 years later, and then Men in Black: International hit theaters in 2019. The franchise has remained in limbo ever since that last movie, which starred Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson, bombed critically and commercially. Today, however, brings work that a new Men in Black movie is in the works, though it comes with a big question surrounding Will Smith, one of the franchise’s original two leads.
As reported by Deadline, Sony Pictures is looking to bring Men in Black back by having Bad Boys for Life writer Chris Bremner pen the next movie. Although no onscreen talent is attached to what I’ll call Men in Black 5 for now, the publication has heard from insiders that once Bremner has finished writing the script, Will Smith will read through it. The plan for now is, at least in this first draft, for Smith to reprise Agent J, though it’s unclear if this will be in a leading or supporting capacity. Other sources stressed that Smith is not officially attached to Men in Black 5 right now and won’t commit to anything until he’s read Bremner’s script.
Like I mention, Will Smith has previously collaborated with Chris Bremner on the aforementioned 2020 Bad Boys movie and its follow-up, last year’s Bad Boys: Ride or Die. So it should be no issue for Smith to look at Bremner’s first go at Men in Black 5, but then what happens from there? Does the Agent J actor merely give any notes that come to mind, but ultimately sign on to the project? Or is it possible that Smith won’t vibe with whatever story Bremner has written and decide not to return to the Men in Black franchise after all?
This reminds me of how two scripts for Independence Day 2 were developed last decade: one with Will Smith reprising Steven Hiller, and the other without. In the end, the latter became 2016’s Independence Day: Resurgence, which didn’t come anywhere close to achieving the same critical and commercial success that the 1996 original did. Director Roland Emmerich even admitted that version of the sequel should never have been made once Smith bowed out to play Deadshot in Suicide Squad.
Now I’m not going to say with 100% that the same thing will happen in Men in Black 5 moves forward without Will Smith. Still, taking into account both Independence Day: Resurgence and that Men in Black: International failed to interest audiences with two new leads, I’ll keep my fingers crossed that Will Smith likes Chris Bremner’s script and agrees to join Men in Black 5 if Sony Pictures greenlights it. That brings me to another question: would we also see Tommy Lee Jones reprise Agent K?
I’m not going to go down that rabbit hole right now, but needless to say that we’ll keep you apprised about if Men in Black 5 moves forward or if it ends up suffering the same fate as that crossover movie with the Jump Street franchise. None of Will Smith’s Men in Black movies are currently streaming, but you can watch him in Bad Boys: Ride or Die with your Netflix subscription.
