'Men in Black: International' Producer on Possibility of Expanding Universe With Sequels

Fans of the Men in Black franchise are no doubt excited to see the upcoming spinoff, Men in Black: International, debut a brand new cast, but after it's all said and done, will there be more movies to come?

The fan-favorite original Men in Black series, which starred Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones as the lead agents, includes three films spanning from 1997 to 2012. But apparently F. Gary Gray, who is helming the 2019 film, hadn't always thought about the possibility of sequels.

Producer Walter Parkes recently spoke to CinemaBlend on the potential to expand the Men in Black universe with future films in a number of different headquarters, to which he explained:

"We imply that we have [headquarters in] other places and in prior drafts of the script we did [see them. But in terms of effective storytelling, we just didn’t find a way to come about that. But, if the film’s successful, we’ll certainly be going to new headquarters throughout the world."

Parkes went on to tease the possibility of expanding the universe in other ways, beyond just films:

"What you say about the expansion of the cinematic universe is absolutely true. I think that’s one of the most exciting things about the last 15 years that these big [franchises] exist. And what excites me is that it’s expansion -- not so much in other movies, but in other media. You know, there’s digital expressions of this, and VR expressions of this... So I think you can build out the universe, even around this movie. And I think that’s very much what modern franchises do."

It looks like--if Men in Black: International is successful, of course--we won't be seeing the last of the universe anytime soon. So here's to hoping it smashes the box office and we can get a sequel, along with other various projects, in the near future. We know Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson's chemistry alone will attract tons of viewers.

Men in Black: International debuts in theaters on June 14, 2019.