Rather than simply pretend one of this summer’s biggest disappointments didn’t exist, Sony Pictures Chairman Tom Rothman acknowledges that ‘Men In Black: International’ wasn’t what it could have been, discusses what went wrong, and promises that we haven’t seen the last of this franchise.
For starters, while ‘MiB:I’ came and went, it wasn’t a flop. Its reported production budget was only about $110 million and will wind up making $250 to $300 million worldwide. It isn’t an outright flop, as it looks like it will actually end up in the black, but for the record, it didn’t even make $100 million in the US.
RELATED: ‘Men In Black: International’ Was Plagued By Constant Re-Writes And Producer Interference
But compared to another Sony reboot which was a smash success (and Sony’s top-grossing movie of all time), it doesn’t look as though enough thought went into this one.
As Rothman disclosed:
“I think the truth of the matter is the audience really liked that film and the cast was wonderful, Tessa [Thompson] and Chris [Hemsworth] were great and did a terrific job, but if we made any mistake, I think it probably was that there was not a strong enough idea in the story. Especially when you compare that to, say, Jumanji, which had a very, very strong idea. So the lesson of it is we have a pretty darn good batting average around here, but you are never going to bat 1.000, and you need to continue to take risks. But you have to try to manage risk. In the case of Men in Black, we had two co-financiers on that movie and that manages the risk. I really do believe you cannot eliminate risk in the movie business. If you try to eliminate risk, you will eliminate creativity, and if you eliminate creativity, you will eliminate success.”
Rothman’s assertion that audiences “really liked” ‘MiB:I’ might be over-selling it. General audiences gave it an average 3 out of 5 stars via PostTrak. Kids under 12 loved it, though which might have been part of the problem, as this picture, along with ‘Godzilla: King of the Monsters’ both played well to children, but weren’t supposed to be kids movies.
But if Hollywood senses cash to be made, you can bet they won’t leave anything alone. This won’t be the last ‘MiB’ we’ve seen.
Rothman stated:
“So Men in Black remains a very important asset that the company owns, and I would be very surprised if that is the last movie.”
Just for the record, Sony was only interested in making this movie in the $100 million price range, so Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones (but mostly Will Smith) were out of the question. The reboot/spinoff route was about the only way they could have gone. And there’s nothing to guarantee that audiences would have been more receptive to a Smith/Jones return.
Do you want more ‘MiB’? If so… what would you like to see done with the franchise?
Source: Cinema Blend
