Men in Black 3

Men in Black 3
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Barry Sonnenfeld
Produced by	Walter F. Parkes Laurie MacDonald
Written by	Etan Cohen
Based on	The Men in Black by Lowell Cunningham
Starring	Will Smith Tommy Lee Jones Josh Brolin Jemaine Clement Michael Stuhlbarg Emma Thompson
Music by	Danny Elfman
Cinematography	Bill Pope
Edited by	Don Zimmerman
Production company	Amblin Entertainment P+M Image Nation Hemisphere Media Capital
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date	May 14, 2012 (2012-05-14) (Berlin) May 25, 2012 (2012-05-25) (United States)
Running time	106 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$215 million
Box office	$624 million

Men in Black 3 (stylized as MIB³ and alternatively spelled Men in Black III) is a 2012 American 3D comic science fiction-action film directed by Barry Sonnenfeld and starring Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones and Josh Brolin. It is the third installment in the Men in Black trilogy based on Lowell Cunningham's The Men in Black comic book series published by Marvel and Malibu Comics. It was released fifteen years after the original Men in Black (1997) and ten years after the first sequel, Men in Black II (2002). Sonnenfeld and Steven Spielberg returned as director and executive producer, respectively. In the film, Boris the Animal, an old enemy of Agent K, escapes from prison and goes back in time to kill the younger K in order to allow his species, a ruthless alien race known as Boglodites, to attack Earth. This forces Agent J to go back in time and team up with K's younger counterpart on a mission to save his partner and the world.

Men in Black 3 was released on May 25, 2012 and grossed over $624 million worldwide. Unadjusted for inflation, it is the highest-grossing film in the series.

In 2012, an alien criminal, Boris the Animal, a Boglodite, escapes from a maximum-security prison on the moon and arrives on Earth, bent on taking revenge on Agent K, who shot off his left arm and captured him in 1969. He confronts K, who is with his partner Agent J, telling him he is "already dead". J then discovers that K was responsible not only for capturing Boris, but for deploying the "ArcNet", a shield that prevented the Boglodites from conquering Earth and caused their extinction.

Boris travels back in time to kill the young Agent K. With history altered so that K is long-dead, J finds that only his memory has been unaffected, and no one from the Agency understands his obsession with K until Agent O, the new Chief, deduces that there has been a fracture in the space-time continuum. With K out of the picture, the ArcNet was never deployed, and there is nothing to protect the present-day Earth from the Boglodite invasion, so J must travel back in time to stop Boris and save K. Back in 1969, he travels to Coney Island, knowing from the Agency's records that, in 1969, Boris will commit a murder there. He finds Boris, but is discovered and arrested by 1969 K, who prepares to wipe his memory, but decides at the last minute to investigate J's claims. K and J follow clues, leading them to a bowling alley, and then to The Factory, where they come across an alien named Griffin, who is in possession of the ArcNet. Griffin, who can see all possible future timelines and outcomes, senses Boris is coming and escapes, but Boris later captures him. J and K pursue and rescue Griffin, acquiring the ArcNet. 1969 Boris escapes and 2012 Boris arrives, and they team up.