Men in Black

Films

Men in Black (1997)

Men in Black is the first film in the series. The film follows the exploits of Agent J and Agent K, members of a top-secret organization established to monitor and police alien activity on Earth. After Agent K hand-picks James D. Edwards from the NYPD and recruits him for MIB, the two Men in Black find themselves in the middle of the deadly plot by an intergalactic terrorist who has arrived on Earth to steal an energy source of unimaginable power. To prevent worlds from colliding, the MIB must track down the terrorist and prevent the destruction of Earth. It's just another typical day for the Men in Black. The film was released on July 2, 1997, to positive reviews and grossed $589 million worldwide.

Men in Black II (2002)

Men in Black II is the second film in the series, set five years after the first. For Agent J, it is another day at the office, monitoring, licensing, and policing all alien activity on Earth. Agent K retired from MIB after the events of the first film, had his memories of them wiped, and returned to his former life. One day, J receives a report of an unauthorized landing of an alien spacecraft near New York. It is an old enemy of MIB, a Kylothian named Serleena, who is searching for a powerful artifact called The Light of Zartha. J investigates and realizes that it requires knowledge of events that only K possesses. After other recruited MIB agents fail to meet J's standards as a partner, J decides to bring back K and restore K's memory as an MIB agent to try to stop Serleena. Men in Black II was released on July 3, 2002, to mixed reviews and grossed $441 million worldwide.

Men in Black 3 (2012)

Men in Black 3 is the third film in the series. When the notorious alien criminal Boris the Animal escapes LunarMax Security Prison to seek revenge on K for capturing him in 1969, he can use secret time-travel technology to go back in time and undo the events of his defeat, resulting in a new timeline where K is killed during his fight with Boris and Earth is now vulnerable to an invasion from his species. With J the only one who remembers the original history, he must go back in time to join forces with the younger K and ensure that events play out as they should. Men in Black 3 was released on May 25, 2012, to positive reviews and grossed over $624 million worldwide.

Featuring Josh Brolin as young K.

Men in Black: International (2019)

In the film, rookie MIB recruit Molly Wright and Agent H from MIB's UK branch investigate the activities of the shape-shifting alien duo Twins, who are seeking a dangerous artifact, only to discover that there is a more dangerous threat: a mole in the agency. Agent O from Men in Black 3 returns, and Frank the Pug appears in a cameo after appearing in the first two films. The film was released on June 14, 2019. Unlike its predecessors, Men in Black: International received mostly negative reviews and was a box office disappointment, grossing only $253 million worldwide, making it the lowest grossing film in the series.

Future

Both Smith and Jones have said that they would "consider" appearing in a Men in Black 4, with Jones saying that it would be fun to do it again. In July 2012, Columbia chief executive Doug Belgrad said that they are interested to continue the franchise after MIB 3's successful financial performance. Both Barry Sonnenfeld and Will Smith expressed interest on another project, also saying that they would like to see Will's son Jaden Smith in it. In early 2013, Oren Uziel was writing a Men in Black 4 screenplay for Sony Pictures. In December 2025, a new entry in the franchise was announced with Chris Bremner writing the screenplay.

Cast and crew

Production

Development

The film is loosely based upon the comic book The Men in Black by Lowell Cunningham. Producers Walter F. Parkes and Laurie MacDonald optioned the rights to The Men in Black in 1992 and hired Ed Solomon to write a very faithful script. Parkes and MacDonald wanted Barry Sonnenfeld as director because he had helmed the darkly humorous The Addams Family and its sequel Addams Family Values. Sonnenfeld was attached to Get Shorty (1995), so they approached Les Mayfield to direct, as they had heard about the positive reception to his remake of Miracle on 34th Street. They actually saw the film later and decided it was inappropriate. Men in Black was delayed to allow Sonnenfeld to make it his next project after Get Shorty.

Much of the initial script drafts were set underground, with locations ranging from Kansas to Washington, D.C. and Nevada. Sonnenfeld decided to change the location to New York City because the director felt New Yorkers would be tolerant of aliens who behaved oddly while disguised. He also felt that many of the city's structures resembled flying saucers and rocket ships. Production designer Bo Welch designed the MIB headquarters with a 1960s tone in mind, because that was when the organization was formed. He cited influences from Finnish architect Eero Saarinen, who designed a terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport. Being the arrival point of aliens on Earth, Welch felt MIB HQ had to resemble an airport.

ILM provided most of the special effects. Rick Baker led the special effects of the film, which was the most complex in his career to date. He had to have approval from both director Barry Sonnenfeld and executive producer Steven Spielberg: "It was like, 'Steven likes the head on this one, and Barry really likes the body on this one, so why don't you do a mix and match?' And I'd say, because it wouldn't make any sense". Sonnenfeld also changed a lot of the film's aesthetic during pre-production: "I started out saying aliens shouldn't be what humans perceive them to be. Why do they need eyes? So Rick did these great designs, and I'd say, 'That's great — but how do we know where he's looking?' I ended up where everyone else did, only I took three months".

Filming began in March 1996. Five months into the shoot, the crew realized their ending was unexciting. It was originally meant to be a humorous existential debate between Agent J and the Bug, and five potential replacements were discussed. One of these had Laurel Weaver being neuralyzed and K remaining an agent. The change to a fight sequence annoyed Rick Baker, as their animatronic Bug had to be replaced with computer-generated imagery. Further changes were made during post-production to simplify the plotline involving the possession of the tiny galaxy. The Arquillians would hand over the galaxy to the Baltians, ending a long war. The bugs need to feed on the casualties of the war and steal their remains to continue the war. Through changing subtitles, the images on MIB's main computer and Frank the Pug's dialogue, the Baltians were eliminated from the plot. Earth goes from being potentially destroyed in the crossfire between the two races to being possibly destroyed by the Arquillians to prevent the bugs from getting the galaxy.

Reception

Critical response

Men in Black won the Academy Award for Best Makeup, and was also nominated for Best Original Score and Best Art Direction. It was also nominated for the Golden Globe of Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy. The film received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics, having a 91% rating on the Rotten Tomatoes film critic website. Following the film's release, Ray-Ban said that the sales of their Predator 2 sunglasses (worn by the organization to deflect neuralyzers) tripled to $5 million.

The second film received mixed reviews from critics, gaining a 38% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, as opposed to the 91% rating given for its predecessor, based on 196 reviews and a Metacritic score of 49. A. O. Scott of The New York Times said that "within the trivial, ingratiating scope of its ambition, though, the sequel is pleasant enough", and, noting the huge array of aliens designed by Rick Baker, said that the film "really belongs to Mr. Baker". A review in The Hindu called the film "worth viewing once". Another review from Digital Media FX magazine praised the spaceships as looking very realistic, but criticized many of the simpler visual effects such as the moving backgrounds composited behind the car windows using blue-screen (which it called a throwback to the special effects of earlier decades). In August 2002, Entertainment Weekly placed the Worm Guys among their list of the best CG characters, and said that the enlarged roles of both Frank the Pug and the Worm Guys in Men in Black II was beneficial for the "tiring franchise". The film earned a Razzie Award nomination for Lara Flynn Boyle as Worst Supporting Actress.

Men in Black 3 received mostly positive reviews from film critics. The film holds a 67% approval rating on the Rotten Tomatoes with an average rating of 6/10, based on an aggregation of 250 reviews. It has a score of 58 on Metacritic based on 38 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Roger Ebert gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, in particular praising Josh Brolin's role as the young Agent K, which he cites as an excellent example of good casting. Ebert also praised the "ingenious plot, bizarre monsters, audacious cliff-hanging" and the "virtuoso final sequence". Richard Roeper gave it 3.5 out of 5 stars while saying: "It's that rare threequel that doesn't suck. Great special effects, surprising amount of heart". A. O. Scott of The New York Times also gave it 3.5 out of 5 stars and commented: "Men in Black 3 arrives in the multiplexes of the world with no particular agenda. Which may be part of the reason that it turns out to be so much fun". Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly noted that "Sonnenfeld and Cohen move their baby along with an integrity and gait that ought to serve as a blueprint for other filmmakers faced with the particular challenges of reviving big-ticket and time-dated hunks of pop culture". Rafer Guzman of Newsday wrote: "The franchise is no longer the zenith of blockbusterism, and the gooey effects from Hollywood veteran Rick Baker look overly familiar, but Men in Black 3 remains an amiable comedy with some fondly familiar faces".

Cancelled projects

MIB 23

In December 2014, it was revealed that Sony was planning a crossover between Men in Black and Jump Street. The news was leaked after Sony's system was hacked and then confirmed by the directors of the Jump Street films, Chris Miller and Phil Lord during an interview about it. James Bobin was announced as director in 2016. As of January 2019, the project was no longer in development. In an interview with ComicBook.com, Channing Tatum stated that he loved the script and retains hope that he'll be able to do it someday.