Men In Black: International Tracking For $40 Million Opening Weekend Box Office

Sony’s Men in Black: International is tracking for a $40 million opening weekend when it releases June 14 (via The Hollywood Reporter).

The series’ previous installment, Men in Black 3, opened to $69 million over Memorial Day weekend in 2012.

Led by Thor: Ragnarok and Avengers: Endgame stars Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson, the spinoff centers around Hemsworth’s expert Agent H and Thompson’s rookie Agent M, who must team to thwart a new extraterrestrial threat when the alien peacekeeping organization is infiltrated. They star alongside franchise newcomers Liam Neeson (Batman Begins), Kumail Nanjiani (The Big Sick) and Rebecca Ferguson (Mission: Impossible – Fallout).

F. Gary Gray (Straight Outta Compton, The Fate of the Furious) directs from a script by Iron Man scribes Art Marcum and Matt Holloway. Men in Black series producers Walter F. Parkes and Laurie MacDonald again produce alongside series executive producer Steven Spielberg (Ready Player One).

The revamp follows the trilogy of Barry Sonnenfeld-directed blockbusters launched in 1997 that teamed Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, who last appeared together in Men in Black 3 alongside Josh Brolin (Avengers: Endgame) as a younger Agent K.

“We’re basically trying to put a lot of humor in to it like the previous ones. These are obviously some big big shoes to fill, so we’re working our butts off on it to make something pretty epic and fun,” Hemsworth previously told Variety.

“They’re trying to change up the locations, make it feel unique and different to the last ones as well. So I think you might even see some different countries, maybe. Some different cities than you’ve seen in the previous Men in Black movies.”

The slick-dressed agents will travel behind the agency’s New York City base, journeying to Morocco, Italy, and London under the command of US branch head Agent O (Emma Thompson) and UK branch head High T (Neeson). The franchise revival is “a sort of reinvention, an opening up of the original franchise that aesthetically is a lot different,” Hemsworth told EW.

“I didn’t think we’d be back together so soon,” Thompson said of her two-time Marvel co-star. “I thought we’d probably both be in capes. So I was like, ‘We’re in suits?’ But it’s such a joy to work with him. And it’s nice to know that people like seeing us together.”

Men in Black: International opens June 14.