With Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones returning after all these years for Men In Black 3, it's time for an obligatory movie tie-in! Activision announced this morning that they have teamed with Sony Pictures to develop Men In Black for release alongside the film next spring.

The game is dubbed a "standalone title" and the first two Men In Black screenshots have been revealed.

Few details have been released about the game, but Activision is doing their best to avoid the game being labelled a movie tie-in, which is exactly what it is. Captain America: Super Soldier, Thor: God of Thunder and Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters were all "standalone" games with original stories as well and that meant nothing. It's still a licensed property based on a film, tied into the release date of the film and that screams failure. Can Men In Black be any different? We'll have to wait until we see a trailer.

What we do know is that the Men In Black game will see franchise familiar characters to return and we expect the actors of the film to do their voices. It'll have lots of action, lots of crazy aliens and lots of  humor to go along with a story that ties into the series of movies. Gameplay features and characters will be revealed soon.

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David Oxford, Executive Vice President of Activision Publishing:

“The Men In Black franchise is an unbeatable starting point to deliver a genre-bending gaming experience with a level of production value on par with Hollywood."

Mark Caplan, Vice President of Licensing at Sony Pictures Entertainment:

"With Activision bringing the Men In Black universe to life on next gen consoles for the first time, the Men In Black video game will be both familiar to fans, an exciting beginning for the uninitiated, and revolutionary for the franchise.”

Men In Black III also stars Josh Brolin (looks like him in the first screenshot), Alice Eve, Bill Hader, Jemaine Clement, Rip Torn and Emma Thompson. Are you interested in a Men In Black game or does the fact that it's releasing alongside the film put it on the avoid list?

Men In Black is planned to launch Spring 2012 for consoles and handhelds.

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