News broke a while back that there are plans to return to the Men in Black franchise with a third film and original stars Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones would also return to reprise their roles. Smith was on board and ready to go, until another film of his got greenlit over at Fox. That film? The City That Sailed. From Variety:

Penned by Andrew Niccol, “City that Sailed” revolves around a New York street magician who is unhappily separated from his young daughter. The girl, who moves to London, finds magic candles that make her wishes comes true, with unintended consequences: The island of Manhattan separates from the continent and floats toward England, bringing her dad ever closer. There’s no director yet on the project.

Smith has been off-screen for some time and hasn’t had a hit since his 2008 film Hancock (which is also being talked about for a sequel). Smith has been wearing his producer pants more lately, with his company Overbrook Films. They’re currently producing the reboot of The Karate Kid, starring Smith’s son, Jaden.

With the deadline for casting coming up for both films pretty soon, Smith will inevitably have to make his decision, which could mean we won’t see a third Men In Black film for quite some time.

It’s a grab bag of items on the radar this week. Wolverine and Sabretooth have dinner together, Bruno himself could be the next Man in Black, and in honor of The Flickcast crew attending SXSW some Predators love (of which they may get a taste).

Predators get dark and scary…finally!

Robert Rodriquez‘s Predator reboot, Predators, is starting to get some buzz.  While the first film of the series was a great sci-fi/action hybrid subsequent films have been less than stellar.  Predators star, Alice Braga talked a little about the new film and what we can expect:

“The new Predators are dark. They are really, really scary. So I think the fans are really going to be happy with it. I hope so. The director Nimród Antal, he’s a fan of the Predator films. So it’s like a fan directing this, [it was] like a kid on set, and having that energy was very special. I wish I could tell you more.”

Here’s hoping “dark” and “scary” means an R-rated film and not a watered down PG-13 movie.

Conan will square off against Avatar villain

As an update to our last ‘On The Radar’ article, it has now been confirmed that actor Stephen Lang will indeed play Conan’s villain, Khalar Singh.  Speaking with MTV, Lang stated:

“I have no idea how I’m going to do it,” Lang laughed. “First I’m going to find out how I’m going to sound. I’m going to get back on a Mongolian pony and ride like the wind. I’m going to flash my scimitar. I’m going to cut the nuts off Conan and his father.”

That last threat may seem really out there, but after seeing Lang’s bad ass side in Avatar I have no doubt he can make good on it.

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Over the past 8 years, Monk has been a front runner for the USA network, earning handfuls of accolades and awards from the Emmys to the Golden Globes. We recently got a chance to sit down with the man behind the neurotic protagonist, Tony Shalhoub, about the finale, his life after Monk, and his eclectic film career.

The Flickcast: What can you tell me about the upcoming series finale?

Tony Shalhoub: Well, I can’t tell you much, because I wouldn’t want to give it away. What I can tell you is that unlike many of our other episodes, this two-parter goes to a really dark place for this character. The show turns into much more of a Drama than a Dramedy.

We know that Monk is sick, and he just goes right to the edge. He realizes he’s going to die, so he becomes fearless in a way. The end is near for him anyway, so he becomes hellbent on his revenge.

TFC: Would you say you were satisfied with how the show ended as a whole?

TS: Absolutely. The finale exceeded my expectations. It really fell like everybody was firing on all cylinders here. The writers really came through for us. Randy Zisk, who’s our director, show-runner, and co-executive producer, directed the episodes, and it’s really his best work. We all loved the script on the page, and it really helps when bringing those words to life.

TFC: 125 episodes of Monk under your belt. Where do you go from here?

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If you were one of the people clamoring for more of the Men in Black franchise after the second installment ended, then this article is for you. Why? Well, it seems the studio responsible for the Men in Black movies is also interested in more of them and so, has decided to make at least one more.

The studio has enlisted Tropic Thunder writer Etan Cohen to pen the script for Men in Black 3 but that’s about as far as things have gone. No deals for franchise stars Will Smith or Tommy Lee Jones are in place as yet though, according to the trade, its unlikely that the film would move forward without them.

Sorry to all you MIB fans out there but to me this seems like a longshot. The studio may have a chance at getting Tommy Lee Jones to reprise his role, although I think that’s pretty unlikely given his recent selection of more “meaningful” projects. Getting Will Smith, who has a very, very lucrative and successful solo career these days, I feel is pretty much impossible.

Still, if they do get them both to come back and director Barry Sonnenfeld, who jumped on the project late yesterday, finds his mojo again and basically forgets MIB 2, this movie might just turn out to be something. Until then, we’ll just have to wait and see what develops.