Merrick here...
The L.A. Times has an interesting piece about shooting delays on the third MEN IN BLACK movie. Sounds like a pre-planned hiatus is being extended somewhat to address screenplay problems (with Jeff Nathanson of CATCH ME IF YOU CAN, THE TERMINAL, SPEED 2, and RUSH HOURS 2 and 3 digging into a previous script version by TROPIC THUNDER's Etan Cohen).
After a hiatus of nearly two months, "Men in Black III," the third installment in the sci-fi/comedy franchise, was to resume production this week in New York. But studio Sony and the film's producers have pushed back the production date again. Shooting is now delayed to March 28 owing to ongoing script issues,
[EDIT]
The plot for the new film, which is being directed by Barry Sonnenfeld (helmer of the first two installments), takes the franchise further into whimsical territory. In addition to Smith as Agent J, Tommy Lee Jones reprises his role as the wisecracking Agent K in the present (the part already shot). Josh Brolin, through a time-travel twist, plays a young Agent K from 1969 who encounters countercultural figures such as Andy Warhol and Yoko Ono, according to a person who read a version of the script in November.
The article indicates that Sony is saying such delays won't affect the movie's targeted 2012 release date - an assertion which is probably accurate given how far away that release date is. It should be noted, however, that this is the same Sony who called me a while back attempting to convince me that Sam Raimi's SPIDER-MAN 4 wasn't in trouble - which I didn't believe at the time. That project did, indeed, implode days later - hence Marc Webb's new AMAZING SPIDER-MAN.
Click HERE for more insight regarding matters on the new MEN IN BLACK picture.
— follow Merrick on Twitter ! ---
