‘Men in Black 3’ cost $375 million

The LA Times says today that Sony has already spent close to $375 million to produce, market, and distribute ‘Men in Black 3’ (meaning it could end up being the most expensive movie ever made), and essentially has no chance of making any of that back. Especially since it will almost certainly suck because they began shooting before they even finished the script.

As Huff Post (via Vulture) reminds us, here’s how director Barry Sonnenfeld explained it…

“What happened is that we wanted this to be Will Smith’s next movie, and he was sniffing around at other movies at the time … So we had a script, with a really good first act and a fantastic ending, but there were scenes in the middle that needed work.”

“Oh, so just a few scenes in the middle, that’s no big deal,” said a straw man I made up just now to make a point. Because no, that’s not how it works. Movies (generally) have three parts. Act 1 establishes the characters and sets up the conflict. It’s the first 10 minutes or so. Act 3 is when the hero blows up the Death Star or wins the race or fucks the girl or whatever. It’s usually the last 5 minutes.

So what ‘Men in Black 3’ didn’t have was that hour and half in between Act 1 and Act 3 that is supposed to show a logical progression of events where Will Smith figures out how to save Tommy Lee Jones. Instead of that we’ll be treated to Smith shouting things that really don’t need to be shouted and him telling us how handsome he is.