Sony Preps "Men in Black III"

Sony has put Men in Black III on the fast track for development and could begin filming as early as next spring. The first Men in Black film, which was based on the comic book series by Lowell Cunningham, earned nearly $600 million in 1997 and spawned a Saturday morning cartoon (Men in Black: The Series), which ran from 1997-2001, as well as a 2002 sequel, Men in Black II.

Sony has hired the red hot scribe Etan Cohen to write the screenplay for the new MIB film, and Barry Sonnenfeld, who directed the first two MIB features, is attached (though not signed) to direct. Cohen, who wrote the very funny Tropic Thunder as well as Madagascar 2 and the new Sherlock Holmes film, is already “deep into his draft” of the script for MIB III.

THR also reports that MIB star Will Smith “is interested in returning” to the franchise that helped make a worldwide box office heavyweight. According to The Reporter, “Smith does not have a go movie lined up.”

Will Smith To Return For 'Legend' Prequel

Actor reteams with director Francis Lawrence for new film.

*Will Smith has agreed to reprise his role as scientist Robert Neville in a prequel to his 2007 blockbuster "I Am Legend."
Francis Lawrence will also return as director of the project, which is based on a detailed outline that was written over the past few months by Lawrence, Smith and the film's producers Akiva Goldsman and James Lassiter, according to Variety.
The prequel will chronicle the final days of humanity in New York before a man-made virus caused a plague that left Smith’s character the lone survivor among a mutated mob in the city.
Making a prequel was the only way to stretch a franchise that grossed $584 million worldwide for Warner Bros. and keep Smith in the lead role. His character was killed in the first film, after extracting a potential cure for the virus for the scattered survivors.