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Men in Black spin-off movie announced for summer 2019

Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith in 1997’s original ‘Men in Black’ (picture credit: Sony)
Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith in 1997’s original ‘Men in Black’ (picture credit: Sony)

Dust off those dark sunglasses, because everyone’s favourite extra-terrestrial police force are coming back… with a twist.

Sony have announced that a new ‘Men in Black’ movie will be hitting screens on 17 May 2019. However, this will neither be a ‘Men in Black 4,’ nor the previously reported crossover with ’21 Jump Street’ (plans for which were revealed by the notorious Sony e-mail hack).

Instead, Deadline tells us the as-yet untitled new film written by Matt Holloway and Art Marcum (‘Iron Man,’ ‘Punisher: War Zone,’ ‘Transformers: The Last Knight’) will be a “a contemporary sci-fi pic about the black-clad secret force that protects earth from the alien scum of the universe, focusing on new characters chasing villains that put the picture on more of a global scale than the two previous films.”

The plan, it seems, is for a semi-reboot which “acknowledges and builds on the world” of the previous films whilst essentially starting from scratch with a whole new ensemble, a la ‘Jurassic World.’

Producer Walter F Parkes says of Holloway and Marcum’s work, “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.”

However, whilst we might assume this announcement to mean that the ‘MiB’/’Jump Street’ crossover is dead in the water, it is reported that this project “remains in development;” whether or not it will advance further no doubt hinges on how well this new spin-off performs.

No word yet on casting or director for the ‘Men In Black’ spin-off, but Parkes will produce alongside Laurie Macdonald, with Steven Spielberg on board as executive producer.

Based on the Aircel Comics title, 1997’s ‘Men in Black’ was a big hit, spawning two sequels in 2002’s ‘Men in Black II’ and 2012’s ‘Men in Black 3.’ Collectively, the trilogy earned over $1.6 billion at the global box office.

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