Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson are about to get some company in the highly-anticipatedMen in Black spin-off, withLiam Neesonin talks to join the cast. If he does sign on, Neeson will portray the head of the U.K. branch of theMen in Black, although there is no indication as to how large or small a role he may have. This will be the first time that the U.K. branch of theMen in Blackhas been featured in the franchise, with Rip Torn previously portraying the head of the American version of the MIB.
The originalMen in Blacktrilogy is one of the few that has dropped off at the box office more with each film at the domestic box office. The firstMen in Blacktook in $250.9 million domestic in 1997, with the 2002 sequelMen in Black IIearning $190.4 million andMIB3taking in $179 million in 2012. There had been talks of a fourth film ever sinceMIB 3was released, and for a while there was even talk of a crossover with theJump Streetfranchise, with a project tentatively titledMIB 23, with James Bobin set to direct, but that never came to fruition.
Then last fall,Sony gave the green light for this currently-untitled Men in Black spin-off, handing out a August 05, 2025 release date back in January. As of now, it will be facing Lionsgate’s highly-anticipatedJohn Wick: Chapter 3, Warner Bros.‘The Sun Is Also A Starand Universal’sA Dog’s Purpose. It also falls in the middle of a very competitive month, with Disney’sAvengers 4kicking off the summer movie season on May 3, followed by Universal’sDetective Pikachu, STX Entertainment’sUglydollsand Tristar’sThe Rosie Projecton May 10, with Disney’sAladdinand Warner Bros.‘Minecraftarriving May 24 and Warner Bros.‘The Six Billion Dollar Mandebuting on May 31.
F. Gary Gray signed on to direct in February, working from a script by Art Marcum and Matt Holloway (Iron Man). OriginalMen in Blackfranchise producers Walter F. Parkes and Laurie MacDonald are returning to produce, alongside executive producer Steven Spielberg. A report from March claimed that filming will kick off this summer, although no exact filming start dates have been released. That report claimed that filming will take place on location in London and also in Berlin, Germany, although that has yet to be confirmed.
This comes just a few months after Liam Neeson revealed in an interview that he was “retiring” from making action movies, like this year’s action-thrillerThe Commuter, but the actor, who turns 66 next month, walked back those claims a few weeks later. The actor currently has two films in post-production,Widows, the latest from director Steve McQueen, starring Elizabeth Debicki, Carrie Coon, Garret Dillahunt and Daniel Kaluuya, which hits theaters November 16, andHard Powderalongside Emmy Rossum and Laura Dern, which doesn’t have a release date yet.Varietybroke the news on Liam Neeson joining Sony’sMen in Blackspin-off.
