Sony is dead set on universe building. Just a couple of years after scrapping their ‘Spider-Man Universe’ to be built off of the doomed ‘Amazing’ franchise, they are back at work following the success of their ‘Homecoming’ joint venture with Marvel Studios, with ‘Venom’ and ‘Silver & Black’ steadily moving closer to fruition. Sony is also reviving the dormant ‘Charlie’s Angels’ franchise which consisted of two successful films in the early 2000s and are now hoping to build off of ‘Men In Black’ which has accumulated over $1 billion globally.
While the original franchise starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones has run its course, the studio still sees the brand as viable and is moving forward swiftly with what is being described as a spin-off. No word on what that means or what the movie will be about, other than it being more global in scope than the first films. There is no director attached, but neither Smith nor Jones will be back. There is a script, however, penned by Matt Holloway & Art Marcum (‘Iron Man’, ‘Transformers: The Last Knight’) and a release date, May 17, 2019. Walter F. Parkes and Laurie MacDonald will produce with executive producer Steven Spielberg.
You may recall Sony’s plans to merge their ‘Men In Black’ and ’21 Jump Street’ franchises, with Jonah Hill’s Schmidt and Channing Tatum’s Jenko trading their white tuxes for the ebony suits of the alien task force. Apparently, that project is still in the works, but this spin-off will come first.
The producers are reportedly meeting with top directors for the project. Apparently, the script is all set. As Parkes said:
“It’s so rare to get to the end of the script and know you’re holding a movie in your hands, but Art and Matt have written a spinoff that somehow is true to the core of the MiB world and yet expands the franchise to a fresh new place.”
This spin-off is being compared to ‘Jurassic World’ which revived that brand and set up a new set of adventures using the same concept and world, but with new characters and ideas to explore.
Are you excited to see the ‘Men In Black’ brand being revived with a new cast?
Source: Deadline
