While Sony is patiently awaiting Oren Uziel’s rewrite on the 21 Jump Street sequel, the studio has also tapped the screenwriter to pen another installment in the Men in Black franchise.  Little is known about the logline for Men in Black 4, though the studio was apparently pleased enough with Uziel’s pitch to give him the go-ahead.  It’s unclear at this time just how involved Will Smith would be with a fourth film and there are currently no deals for either Josh Brolin or Emma Thompson to return.  After Men in Black 3 went on to earn a franchise-best $624 million, the studio is obviously eager to get another film in development.  Uziel, however, will have to finish his draft on the 21 Jump Street sequel first, which Sony has already slated for a June 6, 2014 release.  Hit the jump for more.

Columbia Pictures (which is owned by Sony Pictures) President Doug Belgrad recently said what the future might hold for The Amazing Spider-Man 2, but he also provided some updates on the studio’s other major projects.  To begin, you may want to break out your favorite jungle-themed board game because the studio is considering a Jumanji reboot.  Speaking to THR, Belgrad says “We’re going to try and re-imagine Jumanji and update it for the present.”  Translation: the game will now end when someone lands on the final space and screams “Jumanji!” at their iPad.  I’m not exactly sure how one re-imagines the strikingly simple premise of Jumanji.  You play a board game, bad things happen.  It’s like the Final Destination of family fun.

Hit the jump for what Sony has planned for sequels to Men in Black 3 and 21 Jump Street.

While walking around Comic-Con the past two days, I’ve taken almost 150 pictures of the various things items on the convention floor.  If you’re interested in checking out what’s in San Diego this year, hit the jump for tons of posters, costumes, toys, collectibles, people, props, and so much more.

A few of the movies and TV shows you’ll see include Iron Man 3, Breaking Bad, Men in Black, The Walking Dead, Resident Evil, Total Recall, Looper, Ender’s Game, G.I. Joe, Transformers, Star Trek, Back to the Future, Lego, Knight Rider, Star Wars, Sideshow Collectibles, Entertainment Earth, The Hobbit, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, The 5th Element, Thundercats, THX 1138, and more.

In 1995, Will Smith starred in the first of three back-to-back films that would rocket his career into superstardom and solidify his status as a box office king.  He kicked things off with Michael Bay’s feature directorial debut, Bad Boys, followed by the large-scale sci-fi actioner Independence Day, and rounded things off with the franchise-starter Men in Black.  The third installment in the sci-fi comedy series, Men in Black 3, just opened in theaters and now Men in Black and Men in Black II have been released on Blu-ray to mark the occasion.  Hit the jump for our review of both films on Blu-ray.

It’s a bit ironic that Men in Black 3 star, Will Smith, was recently quoted as saying, “I don’t want to be the sequel guy,” especially when there are a number of potential franchise sequels with him in the works.  Including a possible Men in Black 4, there are also Independence Day 2, Hancock 2, Bad Boys 3, I, Robot 2 and, of course, I Am Legend 2.  While some of you may be confused by Smith’s possible return in that last one, I’ll point you to the alternate ending of the original 2007 blockbuster.  Hit the jump for a few snippets on sequel work from Smith and an anecdote about why he passed up the title role in Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained.

After a listless start, Men in Black 3 kicks into a second gear that is as much fun as I wanted from the sequel.  The exact moment when it reaches second gear is at J’s “time jump,” when Will Smith jumps off the Chrysler building and into 1969.  The visuals that flash by as he plummets may be the most thrilling minute-long sequence I see all summer.  While Sony is saving the whole sequence for theaters, we have a new behind-the-scenes featurette that shows how they transported Smith from a small bluescreen room to the heights of the skyscraper.  Additionally, we have two creature featurettes that elaborate on the design of a) a disturbing, gruesome effect that will haunt me forever and b) a big fish.  Watch all three after the break.

Remember a few weeks back when I kicked off the summer movie and wedding seasons simultaneously? Well, I wasn’t kidding about the whole wedding thing. Today marks my second ceremony in three weeks and let’s just say that I’m writing portions of today’s Top 5 from a church while awaiting pictures. To make matters even worse, said church is located on a stretch of old highway that is nowhere near an Internet connection that can support anything better than up to 128k up or down. I never thought I would say this, but I’m currently missing my home DSL connection that is slow and unreliable at best. But enough of my bandwidth-starved complaints…

On tap in this week’s Top 5 is the first trailer for the latest Bond film, Skyfall, Men in Black 3 video interviews with Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones and more, G.I. Joe: Retaliation‘s new release date/third dimension, the first trailer and poster for The Great Gatsby, and a plethora of coverage for The Dark Knight Rises. Join me after the break for a brief recap and link to each.

Today, the third Men in Black movie hits theaters.  Barry Sonnenfeld returns as director, and the story finds Will Smith’s Agent J traveling back in time to save Tommy Lee Jones’ Agent K.  Josh Brolin plays a younger version of Jones’ character, and does an incredible job; you’ll be totally convinced you’re watching a young Tommy Lee Jones.  During my interview with Brolin, we talked about his awesome performance, his first day on set, favorite movies, Fahrenheit 451, and future projects like Ruben Fleischer‘s Gangster Squad, Jason Reitman‘s Labor Day, Spike Lee‘s Oldboy, and Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Hit the jump to watch the interview.  Men in Black 3 also stars Jemaine Clement, Alice Eve, and Emma Thompson. In addition, make-up effects artist Rick Baker returns to the franchise and you can see some of his creature work here.  Click on the corresponding links for my conversations with Tommy Lee Jones, Will Smith director Barry Sonnenfeld.  For more on the film, here’s all our previous coverage.

Fifteen years ago, Men in Black was released in theaters.  It further cemented Will Smith‘s star status, gave his high-energy style a perfect foil with Tommy Lee Jones‘ dour-yet-playful performance, and provided a fun, upbeat experience that was delightfully silly and bizarre (I still crack up when Smith tells Jones, “Awww.  You brought that tall man some flowers!”).  Strangely, Men in Black 3 doesn’t draw strength from anything that made the original film an enjoyable experience.  Instead, the latest sequel finds its heart in supporting characters, and letting special-effects makeup guru Rick Baker run absolutely wild as he swings his marvelous alien creations into the 1960s.  It’s a shame that Mr. Smith and Mr. Jones’ performance, and the humor can’t match Baker’s bravado and creativity.

Opening this weekend is the third film in the Men in Black franchise.  Barry Sonnenfeld returns as director and the story finds Will Smith’s Agent J travelling back in time to save Tommy Lee Jones’ Agent K.  In addition to Bill Hader as Andy Warhol, Josh Brolin plays a younger version of Jones’ character and does an incredible job.  You’ll absolutely think you’re watching Jones as a young man.  Men in Black 3 also stars Jemaine Clement, Alice Eve, and Emma Thompson.  In addition, make-up effects artist Rick Baker returns to the franchise and you can see some of his creature work here.  For more on the film, here’s all our previous coverage.

Last week I got to speak with most of the cast and every day this week I’ve been posting new interviews.  If you missed them, here’s Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith. Up next is director Barry Sonnenfeld.  During the interview we talked about his Oscar-caliber performance in MIB3 where he’s falling alongside Will Smith, the pros and cons of filming in NYC, what people might be surprised to learn about Smith, Tommy Lee Jones and Josh Brolin, and more.  Hit the jump to watch.

Opening this weekend is the third film in the Men in Black franchise.  Barry Sonnenfeld returns as director and the story finds Will Smith’s Agent J travelling back in time to save Tommy Lee Jones’ Agent K.  In addition to Bill Hader as Andy Warhol, Josh Brolin plays a younger version of Jones’ character and does an incredible job.  You’ll absolutely think you’re watching Jones as a young man.  Men in Black 3 also stars Jemaine Clement, Alice Eve, and Emma Thompson.  In addition, make-up effects artist Rick Baker returns to the franchise and you can see some of his creature work here.  For more on the film, here’s all our previous coverage.

Last week I got to speak with most of the cast and every day this week I’ll be posting a new interview.  Yesterday was Tommy Lee Jones and today I’ve got Will Smith.  During the interview we talked about when he knew they could make another Men in Black, the impact Star Wars had on him as a kid, how many takes he likes to do, and more.  In addition, we talked about future projects like M. Night Shyamalan‘s After Earth, and I tried to get updates on Independence Day 2, Bad Boys 3, I Am Legend 2 and Hancock 2.   Hit the jump to watch.

If you needed an additional excuse to go see Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones and Josh Brolin in Men in Black 3 this weekend, how about this one: you’ll also see a six-minute preview of The Amazing Spider-Man.  Theater-goers who attend Thursday’s midnight showings of Men in Black 3D in IMAX will also get a sneak peek of one of the most anticipated movies of the summer.  Perhaps the trailers, clips, featurettes, images, posters, viral videos and interviews weren’t enough for you; maybe even this four-minute extended trailer hasn’t satiated your appetite.  If that’s the case, go buy your tickets for the midnight showing of MiB3 and get set to enjoy six minutes of Spidey!

Oh yeah, there’s also the third installment in the Men in Black franchise to enjoy.  Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, Men in Black 3 also stars Emma Thompson, Jemaine Clement, Alice Eve, and Nicole Scherzinger. Hit the jump for more information on the preview of  The Amazing Spider-Man and Men in Black 3.

Opening this weekend is the third film in the Men in Black franchise.  Barry Sonnenfeld returns as director and the story finds Will Smith’s Agent J traveling back in time to save Tommy Lee Jones’ Agent K.  In addition to Bill Hader as Andy Warhol, Josh Brolin plays a younger version of Jones’ character and does an incredible job.  You’ll absolutely think you’re watching Jones as a young man.  Men in Black 3 also stars Jemaine Clement, Alice Eve, and Emma Thompson.  In addition, make-up effects artist Rick Baker returns to the franchise and you can see some of his creature work here.  For more on the film, here’s all our previous coverage.

Last week I got to speak with most of the cast and every day this week I’ll be posting a new interview.  Up first is Tommy Lee Jones.  While known as a tough interview (which he is), when Jones had something to say his answers were interesting and I even got him to smile a few times.  We talked about Men in Black 3, Captain America: The First Avenger, Steven Spielberg‘s Lincoln, his favorite movies, how many takes does he like to do as an actor and as the director, and more.  Hit the jump to watch.

As we look towards the next few months, we’ve got plenty of sequels and popcorn fare ahead of us. One of the biggest properties arriving this summer is the third film in the Men in Black franchise. Barry Sonnenfeld returns as director and the story finds Will Smith’s Agent J travelling back in time to save Tommy Lee Jones’ Agent K. In addition to Bill Hader as Andy Warhol, we get Josh Brolin playing a younger version of Jones’ character for much of the film. Judging by the trailer, he’s done a remarkable job.  Men in Black 3 also stars Jemaine Clement, Alice Eve, Emma Thompson, and Johnny Knoxville. In addition, make-up effects artist Rick Baker returns to the franchise and you can see some of his creature work here.

The other night I landed an exclusive interview with Barry Sonnenfeld.  While most interviews take place during the day at a hotel, we spoke by phone close to midnight.  With his busy post-production schedule, it was the one time he could fit in the interview.  During our wide ranging conversation we talked about the way he shot the 3D, how the project came together, whether he prefers film or digital and why, what his cameo in the film entails (he plays a man who jumped off a building during the stock market crash of 1929), Easter eggs, if he misses being a cinematographer, why he doesn’t shoot his own movies, what parts of the film changed on set, casting Josh Brolin, IMAX, deleted scenes, the running time (it’s currently 97 minutes without titles), his favorite movie, director and actor, and so much more.  In addition, he gave me updates on his future projects like Dominion: Dinosaurs Versus Aliens and The How-To Guide for Saving the Planet.  Hit the jump for a few new images of Sonnenfeld on set and the interview.

Sony has released six new images from Men in Black 3.  Most of the new images feature the film’s aliens, and makeup artist Rick Baker explained how these extraterrestrials differed from the ones in the previous movies:

”When I saw the ’60s part, I said, ‘I think we should do retro-looking aliens based on a lot of the aliens that were in films from the ’50s and ’60s that I love,”’ says makeup artist Rick Baker. ”It was actually an idea I’d tried to push in the first two movies and they didn’t go for it, but I figured with the time travel it would be perfect.”

The movie has had its share of script problems, but the aliens look terrific.  I’d expect no less from the seven-time Oscar winner.  Hit the jump to the check out the images.  Men in Black 3 opens in 3D on May 25th.