Men in Black 3
Men in Black 3 | |
---|---|
![]() Domestic promotional poster | |
Directed by | Barry Sonnenfeld |
Written by | Etan Cohen |
Produced by | Walter F. Parkes Laurie MacDonald |
Starring | Will Smith Tommy Lee Jones Josh Brolin Jemaine Clement Michael Stuhlbarg Emma Thompson |
Cinematography | Bill Pope |
Edited by | Don Zimmerman |
Music by | Danny Elfman |
Production companies | |
Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 106 minutes[2] |
Country | Template:Film US |
Language | English |
Budget | $215 million[3] |
Box office | $202,000,000[4] |
Men in Black 3 (stylized as MIB3) is a 2012 American 3D science fiction comedy film starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones. This film is the sequel to the 2002 film Men in Black II released on May 25, 2012, ten years after its predecessor and fifteen years after the release of the original Men in Black.[5] It also stars Josh Brolin, Emma Thompson, Alice Eve and Jemaine Clement, with Barry Sonnenfeld returning as director, and Steven Spielberg returning as executive producer. The film is the third installment in the Men in Black film series which is based on the Malibu Comics series The Men in Black by Lowell Cunningham. Principal photography began in New York City on November 16, 2010.
Plot
The intergalactic criminal Boris the Animal (Jemaine Clement) escapes from the LunarMax prison on Earth's moon, intent on going back in time and killing Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones), who on July 16, 1969, had shot off one of his arms and captured him. After investigating a spaceship crash in New York City, and following a skirmish in a Chinese restaurant, K deduces Boris has escaped, and K regrets not having killed him. He returns to his apartment, where all traces of him disappear. Agent J (Will Smith), however, still remembers K, though no one else at Men in Black headquarters does.
Agent O (Emma Thompson), the new Chief after Zed's passing, deduces from J's statements that a fracture has occurred in the space-time continuum. The two realize Boris must have time-jumped to 1969 and killed K, resulting in an imminent invasion of Earth by his race, the Boglodites, due to the absence of the protective ArcNet shield around Earth, installed by K in 1969. Aided by electronic-shop owner Jeffrey Price, son of Boris' fellow prisoner Obadiah Price, who created the time-travel device, J time-jumps off the Chrysler Building to reach time-travel velocity. With only 24 hours to stop Boris, J arrives a day before Boris kills K.
J follows a clue to Coney Island, where 29-year-old agent K (Josh Brolin) arrests him and then questions him at MIB headquarters, while a young Agent O (Alice Eve) happens by. Getting no answers, K places J in a large, primitive Neuralyzer . At the last second, J says he'll tell the truth of his mission. As a team, they follow Boris' trail to a bowling alley and then to The Factory, the studio / party space of Andy Warhol's (Bill Hader), who is actually the undercover Agent W. The Agents meet the alien Griffin (Michael Stuhlbarg), an Arcadian who possesses the ArcNet and is able to see all possible futures. Griffin leaves before Boris arrives to snatch him. The Agents locate Griffin at Shea Stadium, where he gives them the ArcNet and instructs them to place it onto the Apollo 11 lunar rocket launch occurring in less than six hours. Boris then snatches Griffin, but the agents, on monocycles, give chase and recover Griffin.
Upon arriving at Cape Canaveral, the agents and Griffin are arrested by military police. A Colonel (Mike Colter), however, allows the agents to carry on their mission after Griffin uses his precognitive power to show him what J will accomplish. At the launch pad, J and K confront both 1969 and 2012 incarnations of Boris. J uses the time-jump device to confuse Boris, and pushes him off the pad to his death. K, battling the younger Boris, ruptures a hose, causing it to spray liquid nitrogen on Boris' left arm, shattering it. K plants the ArcNet on the rocket, and the protective shield deploys after reaching Earth's atmosphere. The Colonel congratulates K, who invites him to join the agency.
As J watches from the distance, however, 1969 Boris emerges from the blast chamber and kills the Colonel, only to be killed by K. A child named James exits a military vehicle looking for his father. He pulls out a pocket watch, revealed earlier to have been passed down to Agent J by his father, and J realizes that the colonel killed by Boris was actually his father. K neuralyzes young James, telling him his father was a hero and spends the rest of the day with him on the beach.
J returns to the present day, where he meets his partner at the usual diner. There, he shows K his father's pocket watch. The senior agent, in return, tells him it was an honor to have met him that fateful day. As they leave the diner, Griffin, a few seats away, muses all is well with the world, except for the fact that K forgot to leave a tip, indicating they are in a timeline where the Earth is about to be hit by an asteroid. Then, K returns to the diner and leaves a tip, revealing this timeline to be one where the asteroid disintegrates when hitting a satellite.
Cast
- Will Smith as Agent J, an MIB agent[6]
- Tommy Lee Jones as Agent K, an MIB agent[6]
- Josh Brolin as Young Agent K
- Jemaine Clement as Boris the Animal[7]
- Emma Thompson as Agent O, the head of MIB in present day[8][9]
- Alice Eve as Young Agent O
- Michael Stuhlbarg as Griffin, an alien with precognitive powers[10]
- Nicole Scherzinger as Lily, Boris' girlfriend[11]
- David Rasche as Agent X, the head of MIB in 1969[12]
- Will Arnett as Agent AA, Agent J's partner after K's "death"
- Lanny Flaherty as Obadiah Price
- Bill Hader as Andy Warhol / Agent W
- Michael Chernus as Jeffrey Price
- Mike Colter as Colonel James Darrell Edwards II
- Cayen Martin as Young J
- Lady Gaga as Alien on screen at Agency.
Production
The film's premise was first proposed to director Barry Sonnenfeld by Will Smith during the filming of Men in Black II in 2002, with Smith suggesting that his character, Agent J, travel back in time to save his partner, Agent K, while at the same time exploring Agent K's backstory. Sonnenfeld said the idea "turned out to be a very long process of development, mainly because of the knotting [sic] issues of time travel...."[13] The film was first announced on April 1, 2009, by Sony Pictures Entertainment president Rory Bruer during a Sony ShoWest presentation.[14] By October 2009, Etan Cohen had been hired to write the screenplay.[15] As of March 2010, Will Smith remained undecided whether to join this film or another, The City That Sailed.[16] Sonnenfeld in May 2010 confirmed the return of the protagonists played by Tommy Lee Jones and Smith.[6] Both had expressed interest in 2008 in reprising their roles.[17][18] Other staff includes Walter F. Parkes and Laurie MacDonald as producers, with Steven Spielberg as executive producer; all were producers of the two previous films.[19]
In June, writer David Koepp was hired to rewrite the Cohen script.[20] On June 11, 2010, the fan site SonyInsider.com posted what it described as a "clip [that] debuted at an exclusive Sony 3D TV launch event at Sony Pictures Studios",[21] showing Smith dressed as Agent J wearing 3-D glasses and stating, "I know what you're thinking — 'M.I.B.', 3-D, we're going to be blowing stuff up and all that. But that's not really what we're doing right now. We're here for one purpose, and for one purpose only: Just to let you know that I'm about to make 3-D look good."[22] A teaser poster for the film was also released on September 21, 2010.[23] A third writer, Jeff Nathanson, was hired in November 2010 to rewrite the time-travel segment of the script in which the story takes place in 1969.[24] Nathanson and Koepp, along with producer Spielberg, had previously worked together on the 2008 film Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
As of October 2010, Sharlto Copley, Alec Baldwin, and Gemma Arterton were in negotiations to appear in the film.[25]
Principal photography began on November 16, 2010,[26] even though, "We knew starting the movie that we didn't have a finished second or third act," director Sonnenfeld said in 2012. "Was it responsible? The answer is, if this movie does as well as I think it will, it was genius. If it's a total failure, then it was a really stupid idea."[27] It was originally slated to commence on October 18, 2010, and continue until May 2011 in New York City,[28] with shooting starting in 2010 partly in order to take advantage of a New York tax break in which the state rebates 30 percent of production costs incurred there.[3] Filming was split into two parts, the first taking place from November until about Christmas 2010; the filmmakers announced shooting would begin again in mid-February, but it was delayed until April.[3]
Set photos for the film appeared online November 17, 2010, showing Smith, Jones, Emma Thompson, and Nicole Scherzinger on set.[29] Shooting was scheduled to resume from March through June 2011.[30] Filming was done in April 2011 in the Morris Park section of The Bronx.[31] Parts of Coney Island, in Brooklyn, had parking and filming permits posted for April 24 and May 2-4, 2011, production dates of what the permits titled MIB³.[32] Shooting also took place in Manhattan's SoHo neighborhood.[33]
For the film, the Ford Taurus SHO was selected as the MIB's official car, replacing the Ford LTD Crown Victoria and Mercedes-Benz E-Class from the first two films.[34] For the 1969 scenes, a 1964 Ford Galaxie was used as the MIB's official car.
Release
Under distribution by Columbia Pictures, the film was released on May 25, 2012 release in theaters.[35] The film is rated PG-13 by MPAA for "sci-fi action violence and brief suggestive content".[36] The film is rated PG by the BBFC for "mild language, innuendo and fantasy violence".[2] The film is rated M by Australian Classification Board for "science fiction violence". [37]
Marketing
Video game
Activision has announced that they are developing a video game based on the film by the name of MIB: Alien Crisis. It will, however, feature a never before seen MIB agent instead of Agent J or Agent K. The game is due for release on the 22nd of May 2012 for Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and Nintendo Wii.[38][39] Gameloft is also developing a mobile phone video game based on the film; it is set for release May 17, 2012, for iOS and Android. [40]
Music
"Back in Time" by rapper Pitbull was released as the first single from the soundtrack on March 26, 2012.[41] It is the first lead single for a Men in Black soundtrack not performed by Will Smith.
Reception
The film received favorable reviews from critics, especially in comparison to the second film. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports a 68% approval rating with an average rating of 6/10, based on an aggregation of 168 reviews. The consensus states: "It isn't exactly a persuasive argument for the continuation of the franchise — but Men in Black III is better than its predecessor and manages to exceed expectations, largely due to Josh Brolin's impressive performance."[42] It has a score of 58 on Metacritic based on 37 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[43]
Allen O'Brien of The Times of India gave the film 4 stars out of 5, and concluding, "Sadly, it's the 3D that does not really spruce up the drama, but once you know you are in for some real MIB-isms, you don't really care."[44]
Box office
On its opening midnight, MIB 3 earned $1.55 million from 2,233 locations.[45] As of May 27, 2012, the film has grossed an estimated $55,000,000 in the United States and Canada, along with $132,000,000 in other countries, for a worldwide total of $187,000,000[4].
Potential sequel
Both Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones have said that they would "consider" appearing in a Men in Black 4.[46] Director Barry Sonnenfield joked, "...for Men in Black 4, Will is out and [his son] Jaden Smith is in." Jones said it would be "easy to pick up where we left off. We know what we are doing, we know how to do it. It's just a hell of a lot of fun.".[47]
References
- ^ "Men in Black 3 - released". cinemasgaumontpathe.com. Retrieved May 21, 2012.
- ^ a b "Men in Black 3". British Board of Film Classification. 2012-04-26. Retrieved 2012-05-10.
- ^ a b c Weinstein, Joshua L.; Lang, Brent (June 22, 2011). "'Men in Black III': Delays, Script Problems and Will Smith's Really Big Trailer". TheWrap.com. p. 2. Archived from the original on July 3 2011.
{{cite web}}
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ignored (|url-status=
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- ^ Goldberg, Matt (May 7, 2010). "Columbia Sets Men in Black 3 in 3D to Hit Theaters on May 25, 2012; Will Smith to Return, Tommy Lee Jones and Josh Brolin in Talks to Co-Star". Collider.com. Archived from the original on May 14, 2012. Retrieved November 14, 2010.
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ignored (|url-status=
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ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ Fleming, Mike (September 30, 2010). "Emma Thompson Joins 'Men in Black 3'". Deadline.com. Archived from the original on June 24, 2011. Retrieved November 20, 2011.
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- ^ "Will Smith Originated Men in Black 3". Contactmusic.com, quoting Empire magazine article not online as of March 25, 2012. February 26, 2012. Archived from the original on May 14, 2012. Retrieved March 25, 2012.
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suggested) (help) - ^ Sciretta, Peter (April 1, 2010). "Sony Developing Men in Black 3 and Ghostbusters 3 for 2011". /Film.com. Retrieved April 20, 2010.
- ^ Hardawar, Devindra (October 29, 2009). "Men in Black 3 Script in the Works by Tropic Thunder Writer Etan Cohen". /Film.com. Retrieved November 14, 2010.
- ^ Sciretta, Peter (March 23, 2010). "Will Smith's Next Movie: Men In Black 3 or The City That Sailed". /Film.com. Retrieved November 14, 2010.
- ^ Morris, Clint (September 30, 2008). "Are the Men in Black, Back?". Moviehole. Retrieved October 1, 2008.
- ^ Davis, Erik (April 1, 2009). "Sony Announces 'Men in Black 3'!". Cinematical. Retrieved April 1, 2009.
- ^ Horowitz, Lisa (May 7, 2010). "'Men in Black III' = May 25, 2012 -- in 3D". TheWrap.com. Retrieved November 14, 2010.
- ^ Landy, Ben (June 11, 2010). "David Koepp Writing 'Men in Black 3'". Hollywood.com. Retrieved November 14, 2010.
- ^ MacManus, ed., Christopher (June 10, 2010). "SI: Men In Black 3D Teaser Clip". SonyInsider.com.
{{cite web}}
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suggested) (help) - ^ Marshall, Rick (June 6, 2010). "New 'Men In Black 3' Teaser: Will Smith Will Make 3-D Look Good, New Screenwriter Hired". Splash Page (column), MTV.com. Archived from the original on July 11, 2010. Retrieved July 11, 2010.
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- ^ Zeitchik, Steven (November 15, 2010). "Here Comes the 'Men in Black' Hiatus". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on November 20, 2011. Retrieved November 20, 2010.
- ^ Quigley, Adam (October 13, 2010). "Sharlto Copley, Alec Baldwin and Gemma Arterton in Negotiations for 'Men In Black 3'". /Film.com. Retrieved November 14, 2010.
- ^ Chitwood, Adam (November 15, 2010). "'Men in Black III' Starts Filming Tomorrow; Taking Hiatus in the Middle of Production". Collider.com. Retrieved November 14, 2010.
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- ^ "Release dates". Sony Pictures Entertainment. January 2012. Retrieved January 10, 2012.
- ^ "Men in Black 3 - Movie Trailers, Clips and Info". About.com. 2012-04-09. Retrieved 2012-05-10.
- ^ "Men in Black 3". Australian Classification Board. May 7, 2012. Retrieved May 10, 2012.
- ^ "Men In Black 3 Gets A Videogame: We Get A Look At It". Bleeding Cool. 2011-10-13. Retrieved 2012-05-10.
- ^ Posted by: (2011-10-15). "Men in Black 3: The Video Game Announced For 2012". Video Games Blogger. Retrieved 2012-05-10.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) - ^ "Men in Black 3 Android & iOS action game May 23". phonesreview.co.uk. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
- ^ "Pitbull Goes 'Back in Time' for 'Men In Black III' Theme Song". The Hollywood Reporter. 2012-03-26. Retrieved 2012-05-10.
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(help) - ^ Men in Black 3 at Rotten Tomatoes
- ^ "Men in Black III". Metacritic. Retrieved May 24, 2012.
- ^ O'Brien, Allen (May 25, 2012). "Men in Black III 3D". The Times of India. Retrieved May 25, 2012.
{{cite news}}
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and|last=
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- ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/18084043
- ^ "Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones on 'MIB4' Possibility". CNN.com. May 17, 2012. Retrieved May 25, 2012.
- ^ Kini, Nandan. "Men In Black 3 - Movie Review". Movie Talkies. Retrieved 28 May 2012.
External links
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