Will Smith's $589 Sci-Fi Movie With 91% on Rotten Tomatoes Is Exploding on Streaming 28 Years Later

One movie which boosted Oscar-winning actor Will Smith‘s reputation as a big-screen megastar in the 1990s is now a major streaming hit almost three decades later. The Men in Black are streaming kings thanks to the film’s recent emergence on the Starz chart.

Per Flix Patrol, Men in Black is on Starz’s top 10 movie chart in the U.S. The award-winning blockbuster ranks 6th on the list, looking up at notable titles such as Sylvester Stallone’s Expend4blesEddie Murphy’s Tower Heist and Kevin Hart’s Ride Alongwhich occupies the top spot.

Men In Black characters with K and J talk on the park bench scene

28 Years Later, This Men in Black Scene Is More Prescient Than Ever

The bench scene in Men in Black is a perfect example of how a hilarious action blockbuster can still have deep, relevant themes.

This isn’t the first time Men in Black has soared on the streaming charts this year. In January, the 1997 film and its 2002 sequel, Men in Black IIdebuted on Peacock and immediately resonated with the NBCUniversal streamer’s subscribers. Both installments made the top 10 of Peacock’s chart days after premiering, proving the franchise’s staying power so many years later.

Men in Black Is Arguably Smith’s Best Franchise

Starring Smith alongside Tommy Lee Jones, Men in Black chronicles their respective titular secret agents, James Darrell “Agent J” Edwards III and Kevin “Agent K” Brown, who work for a highly funded yet unofficial government agency and police and regulate everything involving extraterrestrials on Earth. As the agents investigate several close encounters, they discover the deadly plot of intergalactic terrorist Edgar/The Bug (Vincent D’Onofrio), who plans to assassinate ambassadors from opposing galaxies living in New York City.

Smith and Jones’ sharp-suited turns in Men in Black ensured the film was tailored for success upon its release. Playing up their tense yet engaging mentor-mentee relationship, matching Agent K’s stoic and sarcastic nature with Agent J’s more upbeat personality, Smith and Jones’ chemistry won over viewers.

The film, produced by Steven Spielberg‘s Amblin Entertainment, was a smash hit critically (91% on Rotten Tomatoes) and commercially ($589 million worldwide), earning three Oscar nominations (including a win for Best Makeup), a Golden Globe nod and three Saturn Award wins. Its success spawned the above-mentioned sequel and 2012’s Men in Black IIIwhich yielded mixed results critically but also achieved box-office supremacy, pushing the franchise’s box-office tally past $1.5 billion worldwide. A standalone sequel, Men in Black: Internationalditched Smith and Jones for Thor franchise stars Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson as the eponymous agents, with the 2019 movie flopping critically (24% on Rotten Tomatoes) and attracting the franchise’s lowest box-office return ($254 million globally).

Men in Black’s Original Ending Nearly Went Full Avengers: Endgame

Men in Black is known for how it subtly handles the threat of an all-out alien invasion. But the first movie nearly went full Avengers: Endgame.

Smith’s most recent big-screen appearance was in another action setpiece, Bad Boys: Ride or Diethe fourth installment in another successful franchise for Smith, earning solid critical marks (65% on Rotten Tomatoes) and grossing $405 million worldwide. Among Smith’s upcoming projects are a reunion project with original Bad Boys franchise director Michael Bay and another Sony Pictures project in the planned sci-fi thriller, Resistor.

Fans can now stream Men in Black via Starz.

Source: Flix Patrol