Will Smith’s 91% Rotten Tomatoes Sci-Fi Buddy Comedy Is Invading a New Streamer’s Charts

[ad_1]

Will Smith reprized his role as one of his most famous characters, Mike Lowrey, in 2024’s Bad Boys: Ride or Die, the fourth installment in the ultimate buddy cop franchise with Martin Lawrence. However, nearly 30 years ago Smith starred alongside Tommy Lee Jones in another buddy comedy flick that’s made a triumphant return to streaming charts. Men in Black is the 1997 sci-fi adventure that follows K (Jones) and J (Smith) as they go on the hunt for an item that was stolen by an intergalactic villain. The film recently premiered on Peacock, where it jumped to #9 on the streamer’s charts at the time of writing, and it also earned scores of 91% from critics and 80% from general audiences on the aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes.

Men in Black is based on the comic book by Lowell Cunningham, and scribe Ed Solomon penned the script with Barry Sonnenfield directing. Solomon is best known for his work as a writer on other projects like Bill & Ted’s Excelling Adventure, the time-traveling flick starring Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter, and he also worked on Levity in 2003, the crime drama starring Morgan Freeman and Billy Bob Thornton opposite Kirsten Dunst. As for Sonnenfield, he helmed Men in Black six years after making his directorial debut on The Addams Family, the 1991 dark comedy starring Anjelica Huston and Christopher Lloyd. He also worked with Michael J. Fox on For Love or Money in 1993, and he teamed up with Danny DeVito and John Travolta in 1995 for Get Shorty, another dark comedy. He more recently directed Nine Lives, the body swap comedy starring Jennifer Garner and Robbie Amell.

What Else Has Will Smith Been in Lately?

Before starring in Bad Boys: Ride or Die, Will Smith also worked with Equalizer director Antoine Fuqua for Emancipation, the 2022 psychological thriller that also stars Ben Foster and is available to stream exclusively on Apple TV+. In 2021, Smith suited up as Richard Williams in King Richard, the role that won him his first Oscar for best performance, and the year before that he starred alongside Lawrence again in Bad Boys for Life, the third installment in the buddy cop franchise. He’ll also star alongside Michael B. Jordan in a sequel to I Am Legend.