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  <abstract>According to published reports, Will Smith is seriously warming to the idea of returning for a third installment of "Men in Blac,"</abstract>
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  <author>HitFix Staff</author>
  <body>&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Sony Pictures intention to kick-start it's &amp;quot;Men in Black&amp;quot; franchise has been known since April, but it appears many of the pieces of the puzzle are finally falling into place to make &amp;quot;Men in Black III&amp;quot; actually happen.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Director Barry Sonnenfeld is attached to return for the third installment and one of Hollywood's most sought after writers, &amp;quot;Tropic Thunder's&amp;quot; Etan Cohen, is hard at work on the screenplay.&amp;nbsp; The biggest question marks have surrounded series stars Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones. The good news is that according to &lt;a target="_blank" href="http://riskybusiness.blogs.thr.com/2009/10/men-in-black-3-will-smith-cohen.html"&gt;The Hollywood Reporter&lt;/a&gt;, the buzz in development circles is that Smith is finally interested in returning.&amp;nbsp; That would be music to Sony's ears as the blockbuster prospects to reboot the series with a new cast are hardly guaranteed. &lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Smith hasn't shot a film since &amp;quot;Seven Pounds&amp;quot; which was released almost a year ago.&amp;nbsp; That film broke the actor's long and improbable streak of $100 million domestic grossers that went all the way back to 2002's &amp;quot;Men in Black II.&amp;quot;&amp;nbsp; While a sequel to &amp;quot;Hancock&amp;quot; and a prequel to &amp;quot;I Am Legend&amp;quot; are in the works, the actor has been seemingly skittish on what to commit to as his next film. &amp;quot;Men in Black III&amp;quot; is certainly a potentially safe choice.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
On the other hand, the involvement of Tommy Lee Jones is much less certain.&amp;nbsp; The Oscar-winner has committed to star opposite Matthew McConaughey in &amp;quot;The Lincoln Lawyer,&amp;quot; but that period drama doesn't have a confirmed start date so whether or not there is a conflict is still uncertain.&lt;/p&gt;</body>
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  <created-at type="datetime">2009-10-30T01:58:59Z</created-at>
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  <deckhead>Sony wants franchise shooting again in 2010</deckhead>
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  <permalink>2009-10-29-report-will-smith-considering-return-for-men-in-black-iii</permalink>
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  <published-at type="datetime">2009-10-29T21:55:00Z</published-at>
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  <seo-title>Report: Will Smith considering return for 'Men in Black III'</seo-title>
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  <title>Report: Will Smith considering return for 'Men in Black III'</title>
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  <updated-at type="datetime">2009-10-30T03:47:45Z</updated-at>
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