Men in Black 3 got a good review on this website, and was universally acknowledged to be superior to the second instalment, but inferior to the first. Whether or not there needs to be yet another entry in the Men in Black saga is debatable on an artistic level, but on a financial level it’s clear that the world is crying out for more of them.
Men in Black 3, at $624 million, made more than Men in Black 2, which raked in a paltry $440 million (in 2002, back when we still had money). The original Men in Black made $589 million, still less than the third instalment, which by some bizarre witchcraft means that the third film is the most succesful.
To Hollywood producers, this upward trajectory means that audiences worldwide are clamouring for another piece of the MIB pie, because profits only go upwards, right? What’s that phrase again? “What goes up never comes down”? Yeah, that’s right.
With all this at stake, you obviously wouldn’t want to change the formula at all. You’d still need Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, suits, sunglasses – or would you? According to The Hollywood Reporter, Men in Black 4 is definitely in development, and is due to be scripted by Oren Uziel right after he writes that 21 Jump Street sequel that nobody asked for.
In an interview with Collider, Will Smith said of those pesky fourth film rumours:
I think three is enough for me. Three of anything is enough for me. We’ll look at it and we’ll consider it, but it feels like that it might be time to let someone else do that.
So he’s not interested, unless of course he is interested. That’s that cleared up then. He went on to say that he doesn’t know if Jaden Smith is interested in taking over, but he is open to that possibility.
Do you think Men in Black 4 will be any good without Will Smith? Would Jaden Smith be just as good? Yes? No? Why? Why not?
