Sony seems to have settled on a spin-off approach as it looks to build on its Men In Black series of movies. Following the template set by Jurassic World, it’s pressing ahead with a fourth movie in the series, which will bring in new characters within the same universe. As such, don’t expect Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones to appear in the new film.
Instead, Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson (Thor: Ragnarok) are reuniting to headline Men In Black 4, and is it wrong to be so excited about this already? We’re being carried along on a wave of enduring love for the Revengers of Ragnarok!
Anyway, yes, news is starting to leak in from all corners about MiB4 and we’ve rounded it all up for here. Check back for regular updates as we get them.
Men In Black 4 plot
Men In Black 4 is a sequel, but it’s also very much a reboot – hoping to kickstart the franchise for a whole new generation who might not even have seen the originals.
At one point, the film was going to be a weird crossover comedy with 21 Jump Street called MIB23 – but that idea seems now seems to have split off into a seperate project that still somehow seems to be sort of in development.
We don’t know much about the plot specifics just yet, but we obviously know that it’s going to involve Agent H (Hemsworth) and Agent M (Thompson) working together to fight the scum of the universe.
“We’re developing the script now,” Hemsworth told Variety a year ago. “We’re basically trying to put a lot of humour in it like the previous ones. These are obviously some big big shoes to fill, so we’re working our butts off on it to make something pretty epic and fun.
“They’re trying to change up the locations, make it feel unique and different to the last ones as well. So I think you might even see some different countries, maybe. Some different cities than you’ve seen in the previous Men In Black movies.”
Thanks to Hemsworth’s wrap-day selfies (see below) we know that those locations include London, Morocco, Italy and New York – making this sound more like a Bond movie than a MiB sequel.
Men In Black 4 cast and crew
F Gary Gray (The Fate Of The Furious) is directing this one, from a screenplay by Matt Holloway and Art Marcum (who wrote Iron Man). Steven Spielberg is on board as Executive Producer too, so the pedigree behind the camera is pretty high.
Obviously, Smith and Jones aren’t returning (but don’t rule out a cameo), but Hemsworth and Thompson are taking thier place as the film’s two mis-matched agents.
Liam Neeson was the first co-star named for the film, joining the cast as the head of the UK MiB. We also know that Emma Thompson will reprise her role as Agent O in this fourth movie, being (possibly) the only link between this film and the three that came before it.
The Big Sick‘s Kumail Nanjiani is also set to play “Pawny”, a comedy alien sidekick, and Rebecca Ferguson has signed on to play… someone. Since the cast list already seems pretty full, it’s a pretty good bet that she’ll be playing some kind of baddie.
Last up, Rafe Spall is also signed-up in a suporting role, alongside French dancing brothers Les Twins, aka Laurent and Larry Nicolas Bourgeois, who are best known for being back-up dancers for Beyoncé… Dancing twins might sound a bit weird, but if the new film doesn’t at least try to top this music video, we want our money back:
Men In Black 4 filming
Filming begin in London last July, and wrapped on October 17th.
A couple of behind the scenes pics from the UK shoot leaked online, via Dark Horizons. Embiggen the pics below for a closer look at the (admittedly, fairly fuzzy) snaps…
Hemsworth marked the end of the shoot by posting a set of lovely selfies. Click the pics below to see them all, but honestly they’re all just snaps of Hemsworth pouting with his co-stars.
The only thing the post does reveal, is the locations that the film was shot in, with Hemsworth name-checking London, Morocco, Italy and New York.
“Thanks to all the fantastic cast and crew who took part on this epic journey and our director F. Gary Gray,” he tweeted. “Cheers for the fun times, big laughs and solid memories. Can’t wait to show what we’ve put together.”
Men In Black 4 release date
A June 14th, 2019 release date has been earmarked for the movie, stateside. We’ll update you if that changes over here in the UK.