On paper, the concept of a shared universe built out from the Men in Black franchise is sound in theory, because it can’t be denied that there’s definitely plenty of mileage spinning off what’s essentially a sci-fi buddy cop action comedy series into multiple different directions. However, Sony severely underestimated just how important the chemistry between original leads Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones was to the success of the property.
Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson played off each other well in Thor: Ragnarok, but lightning didn’t strike twice when they teamed up for Men in Black: International. Not only was it the worst-reviewed installment in the series, but it also flopped at the box office after earning just $253 million, which was substantially less than any of the three outings powered by the Smith and Jones double act.
It was also beset by production problems, with director F. Gary Gray and producer Walter Parkes regularly clashing behind the scenes, which led to the political undertones and harder edges of the script that initially lured in Hemsworth and Thompson getting reworked into something unrecognizable by the time cameras started rolling, to the extent that both stars reportedly hired their own writers to craft new dialogue. In fact, things got so bad that Gray tried to quit several times, but was persuaded to remain on board by the studio.
However, insider Daniel Richtman now offers that Thompson is pushing for another Men in Black movie to star in, but the tipster offers no additional details or information. Looking at the facts, though, the actress simply doesn’t have enough clout in the industry to convince one of the ‘Big Five’ studios to funnel hundreds of millions of dollars into a sequel to a widely-panned bomb that hardly turned a huge profit, so it’s very unlikely to happen regardless of the statement’s veracity.