The reboot of the “Men in Black” series has come under scrutiny by Sony chairman Tom Rothman as he believes the idea of the movie was just not strong enough. In an interview with Business Insider, Rothman spoke about why he thinks the reboot of the beloved franchise had some issues and what went wrong.
During the interview, Rothman said the story of the new film was not creative enough and compared it to the fifth highest-grossing film of 2017, “Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle.” He said, “I think it probably was that there was not a strong enough idea in the story [of ‘Men in Black: International‘]. Especially when you compare that to, say, ‘Jumanji,’ which had a very, very strong idea.”
The 2019 reboot “Men in Black: International” featured a new cast, dropping regulars Tommy Lee Jones (“The Fugitive”) and Will Smith (“Hancock”) in favor of a new cast which included Tessa Thompson (“Thor: Ragnarok”) and Chris Hemsworth (“Avengers: Endgame”). The, apparently, lackluster story followed Agents H & M as they try and uncover a mole within the ‘Men in Black’ organization.
Rothman, who was also the Chairman of Fox Entertainment Group before it was bought by Disney, commented on risk in the movie business and its effect on “Men in Black: International.”
“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.” he said. “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.”
However, all is not lost with the franchise, with Rothman speaking about the positives and even saying this is not the last we will see of the secret alien organization. “I think the truth of the matter is the audience really liked that film and the cast was wonderful, Tessa and Chris were great and did a terrific job,” he added. “‘Men in Black’ remains a very important asset that the company owns, and I would be very surprised if that is the last movie.”
