MovieChat Forums > Men in Black³ (2012) Discussion > Why’d it Bomb? Men in Black 3

Why’d it Bomb? Men in Black 3

posted 8 years ago by TMC-4 (20488)
12 replies | jump to latest

https://lebeauleblog.com/2017/05/31/whyd-it-bomb-men-in-black-3/

4. Competition
The Avengers was out around the same time. ‘Nuff said.

3. It went over-budget
Men in Black 3‘s actual box office grosses weren’t drastically different from its predecessors but its budget was. Men in Black and Men in Black 2 were made on budgets of $90 million and $140 million respectively, which MIB and MIB 2 had no problem making back in the states alone. However, because of MIB 3‘s troubled production, it ended up going over-budget and was made on a budget of $225 million dollars. As it turns out, that wasn’t exactly easy to make back domestically and, unfortunately, the movie did not make that money back.

2. Will Smith’s declining popularity
Before Men in Black 2, Will Smith hadn’t acted in a movie for 4 years. Instead, he decided to use that time to try to push his kids in the spotlight. That probably turned a few people off from him and it made them not want to see the movie, especially when this movie came out only 2 years after The Karate Kid, which starred Will’s son Jaden, and the song Whip My Hair, sung by his (at the time) 10-year old daughter Willow. Unfortunately, this movie also seems to have started a trend, as any movie that he’s headlined since has not made its money back in the states. The only possible exception is Suicide Squad but it’s debatable whether or not you could really pin the success of that movie on him (or whether or not he’s really the “star” of the movie).

1. It came out too late
I wouldn’t say Men in Black is a movie that’s forgotten but, considering it came out 10 years after it’s predecessor, people probably stopped caring about a Men in Black sequel after a while. Therefore, the demand for a Men in Black sequel was probably rather low, as far as America is concerned at least. As a result, seeing as there was little interest in the movie, not as many people in America went.

Thankfully for the movie, though, other countries still seem to love the

[–] FredBurroughs (22283) 8 years ago

The runaway production was the main reason. Shooting on location in New York along with reshoots ran Sony over budget, so add that to marketing costs. You could also argue the script was rewritten to hell and had little chance of success with so much studio meddling.

[–] kenburke (2396) 6 years ago

Men In Black III had a budget of $215–225 million and wound up grossing $624 million. It did not, as you put it, "BOMB" at the box office.

[–] TexasJack (12516) 6 years ago

Not a bomb, it was probably a money loser.

$225 + $100 marketing costs = $325

$624 gross - 50% theater cut = $312

[–] NGMI (1184) 4 years ago

but you can add tv/streaming rights, and DVD sales so there's that

[–] maximmm (3408) 6 years ago

Men in black 2 sucked arse - that's the biggest reason. Seriously though - only the first film was any good.

[–] enriquesingh (1812) 4 years ago

Men In Black reminds me a bit of Ocean's Eleven.

The first movie on each trilogy was a big hit, a great movie, felt unique and fresh at the time of release.

The second movie was crap, they became lazy because of the 1st movie's success.

The third movie they knew they had fumbled it on the 2nd one so they made a larger effort to make a better movie, but it was still not as good as #1, at least they end the trilogy in a better note.

Years later they both get a spinoff without any of the main characters nor the same director which sucked worse than any of the previous trilogy installments (Men In Black International - Ocean's 8).

[–] AtomicReturns (1252) 5 years ago

It probably did come out way too late. Hard to believe, but the original Men In Black came out in 1997 (same year as Titanic?), and MIB2 was in 2002. MIB3 came out in 2012. That's a huge gap.

I also agree with the other points. Shame the movie went over budget. It could've been a very profitable hit had the budget not been that ginormous. I thought this was a surprisingly enjoyable film and 2nd best in the series.

[–] holly61 (989) 4 years ago

Two problems. Came out about ten year after the last sequel and fifteen years after the first film. What an embarrassing gap! no wonder people lost interest in MIB. Will Smith was also way too old for the role and seemed to have lost all his comic timing. Maybe because he was trying to play the role as he did in his 20's but it wasn't quite working out for a man in his age group? It was quite awkward.

I actually like the story and plot on the other hand. It was a flawless script, really it was great. But this is what I think, it should have been the second sequel not the third. If this film had come out in 2002 with this plot instead of the other it would have hit the film out of the park and made a billion easily.

[–] TMC-4 (20488) 4 years ago

I would blame the long gap in-between sequels but then again Bad Boys 3 came out a good 17 years after the previous one, and it wound up becoming the biggest box office success of the year 2020 (in fairness, with an assist by Covid-19 rendering the theaters/cinemas closed for much of the year).

[–] mariomonsieur (316) 3 years ago

the fan base of viewers who appreciated the original would have grown up past MiB3's younger target range, and the older crowd probably hadn't found the same appeal in a sci-fi movie

[–] TandyMan (11349) 2 years ago

This movie simply wasn't very good. That's the main problem. It has some pretty good scenes in it, but largely veers from meh to actively annoying. And it feels at many times juvenile and targeted directly at children.

Another huge problem as others above stated is the second one was pretty disappointing. Really killed the hype.

Will Smith was no longer a box office sensation.

And I think they really underestimated how much people enjoyed Tommy Lee Jones in these movies.

[–] Foster1486 (634) a year ago

I didn't even know the did a #3 till this evening ---

It's on SyFy and I started watching it

Just went past the Chinese restaurant scenes and , well This movie sucks, to much syfy bs going on