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Trailer

Men in Black(1997)
Released
1997 · FILM

Men in Black

When a rogue alien warns NYPD officer James Edwards of an impending threat, MIB Agent K must team up with Edwards to stop a deadly intergalactic plot while keeping Earth's secret safe from both humans and aliens.

“Protecting the Earth from the scum of the universe.”

Directed by
Barry Sonnenfeld
Written by
Lowell Cunningham, Ed Solomon
Rated
MPA · PG-13
Runtime
98 min
ActionAdventureComedy

Synopsis

A New York City police officer becomes entangled in a deadly intergalactic conspiracy after a chase with an otherworldly entity and is recruited into the Men in Black, a covert organization tasked with monitoring and controlling alien activity on Earth. Agents K and the newly recruited J must stop an intergalactic terrorist who has come to Earth with the intent of assassinating two ambassadors from rival galaxies.

Credits

Actors
Editor
Production Designer
Director of Photography
Writers
Director

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How many hands made this film

The scale of the collaboration

A crew of 75+ credited

Why a floor?

This is a minimum, not a total. We only count the credits we’ve captured so far, and coverage is uneven — a blockbuster might show a few hundred names while another of the same size shows a couple dozen. The real crews all ran into the thousands. The number here only grows as full credits are enriched — so we frame it as a floor, never a headcount.

Craft leads on file

Edited by Jim MillerShot by Donald PetermanScored by Danny ElfmanDesigned by Bo Welch

Box Office

1997 · Box office

💰 Box-office hit — grossed 6.5× its budget

Why 2.5×?

Cinemas keep roughly half of every ticket sold, and a wide release’s marketing often costs about as much again as the film — so a movie needs to gross around 2.5× its production budget just to break even theatrically. It’s a rule of thumb, not the studio’s ledger (home video and streaming come later).

Worldwide gross

$589.4M

Budget$90.0M
Worldwide gross$589.4M
break-even (2.5×)

US & Canada: $250.7M — 43% of worldwide · International: $338.7M (57%)

Opening weekend: $33.1M — 13% of its US run. It had legs — it kept earning long after opening weekend.

Opening week (7-day): $33.1M — 13% of its US & Canada run.

Peak 3,020 theaters

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Full synopsis

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More in Men in Black Collection

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