A new untitled Men in Black movie is in the works at Sony as per the latest edition of prod weekly. Although this is not new, a rumor of the next MIB film already in discussion erupted three years back, but no official confirmation made it to the news.
As per the previous rumor, Will Smith was supposed to return to the leading role of Agent J, however, this has not been confirmed until now. The last Men in Black movie, Men in Black: International had Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson in the leading roles of Agent H and M. Although, the film was not a big hit, it was still able to recover its budget as per the box-office analysts. Apart from dismal box-office performance, it was also hammered by the critics as well as the audience.
The listing indicates Will Smith to return in the new film, and it's also quite expected as Men in Black 3 which he and Tommy Lee Jones led was able to gross more than $650 million on a budget of $225 million. If we compare the third and the fourth films, without any doubt Men in Black 3 was a huge success. So, it will make perfect sense for Will Smith to return once more as Agent J.
Apart from being MiB 4, Men in Black: International was also seen as a reboot of the franchise and the studio was moving ahead from Will Smith, but it didn't work out as expected, and Sony may have scrapped the plans of any new film if they had any to begin with.
The new film seems to continue the adventure of Agent J in tackling aliens from different planets living among humans. In the time-traveling adventure Men in Black 3, Boris the Animal, an alien criminal, escapes a maximum-security prison on the Moon to get revenge on Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones), who shot off his left arm and arrested him in 1969. He confronts K and his companion Agent J, telling the former that he is "already dead". K tries to stop J from chasing Boris and refuses to provide specific facts regarding his arrest. Back at MiB Headquarters, J finds that K was responsible for not only catching Boris but also installing the "ArcNet," an interplanetary shield that kept the now-extinct Boglodites from attacking Earth but he is refused any further information on the case. Boris goes back in time to July 16, 1969, and kills K's younger self, changing history. With only J's memory untouched, no one else at the Agency recognizes his knowledge of K until Agent O, the Chief of MiB after Zed's murder, interprets J's unusual behavior (such as desiring chocolate milk) as symptoms of a split in the space-time continuum. With K gone, the ArcNet was never deployed, leaving Earth defenseless against a Boglodite assault.
Men in Black 3 was directed by Barry Sonnenfeld and based on a screenplay written by Etan Cohen. The cast also included Jemaine Clement, Emma Thompson, Michael Stuhlbarg, Mike Colter, Nicole Scherzinger, and Josh Brolin among others.
The fourth film might not be a big hit but the fifth MiB movie may become a "new favorite moment in human history."