MEN IN BLACK Director Barry Sonnenfeld Explains Why He Won't Ever Return To The Franchise (Exclusive)

Men in Black: International failed to strike a chord with moviegoers back in 2019, and the original trilogy's director, Barry Sonnenfeld, has now explained why he's done returning to the beloved franchise.

By JoshWilding - Oct 18, 2021 03:10 PM EST

Filed Under: Men in Black

The Men in Black franchise has never really managed to recapture the greatness of that original movie. However, the third instalment definitely received a warmer response than the second, even after swapping out Tommy Lee Jones for Josh Brolin (who did a great job as a younger Agent K).

Men in Black: International was a modest success at the box office in 2019 and rebooted the franchise with Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson. Unfortunately, it never really clicked, and the franchise has been left in limbo since as even the mooted Jump Street crossover is now a distant memory.

We recently spoke to the director of those first few movies, Barry Sonnenfeld, about The Addams Family arriving on Digital 4K Ultra HD for the first time on October 19 with both the theatrical version and a new extended cut (it drops on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray and Remastered Blu-ray on November 9), but we also had to ask the filmmaker if there's any chance he'll now return to Men in Black.

"No, I’m done with the Men in Black thing as I’m sure Tommy and Will are too," Sonnenfeld confirmed. "They were too hard. It was too much and there were too many issues making those shows. We never agreed upon scripts with the producers and it just became less and less fun. What’s funny is that F. Gary Grey not only directed Men in Black: International, but he also directed Be Cool which was a sequel to Get Shorty. I joke that F. Gary Grey is sort of like my sequel director."

Later in the interview (which we'll be bringing you a little later this week), the director added: "I don’t know why I even did Men in Black 3. At some point, you just don’t want to keep going back to that same well." It's a fair point, and it does feel like it might be best to shelve the franchise for now...on the big screen, anyway. Why we haven't had a TV version yet is actually pretty hard to say.

Find out what Sonnenfeld had to tell us about DC's Metal Men movie by clicking right here.

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