After years of waiting Men in Black III is finally happening. Sony has hired Tropic Thunder writer Etan Cohen to work on a script which is, probably a good thing since Tropic Thunder was pretty funny. The Men in Black franchise could use more funny after that second movie which was, decidedly, not.

There’s no denying though, that the first movie was good times. THR says Barry Sonenfeld, who directed the first movie, will probably be back. Unfortunately Sonenfeld also directed the first movie and, let’s face it, he hasn’t really done anything worth watching since the first movie.

Still it’s Men in Black and there’s reason to hope for more fun with flashy thing wielding secret agents in the battle to protect earth from illegal aliens. Very illegal aliens. That is, assuming they get the cast back. Will Smith still hasn’t committed to the project, probably because he’s no longer really rapping and so doesn’t need another movie to sell his next album with a wacky alien line dance. There are rumors that he’s now interested in coming back but, we’ll see. Tommy Lee Jones is, well Tommy Lee Jones. If he resists, let him wear a cowboy hat.

The disturbing thing is that it sort of sounds like Sony is going with MIB III, or without Will. They’ve hired their screenwriter and they plan to start shooting in 2010.