Development for a sequel film began following the box office success of the original; Jones, Smith, and Sonnenfeld's returns were confirmed by 2001, and David Koepp was initially hired to write the screenplay.

The film's soundtrack contained the theme song "Black Suits Comin' (Nod Ya Head)", performed by Smith.

Men in Black II premiered at Mann Village Theater in Westwood, Los Angeles on June 26, 2002, and was theatrically released in the United States on July 3 of that same year.

It received generally mixed reviews from critics, who deemed it inferior to its predecessor, but praised Jones's and Smith's performances and action sequences.

However, Serleena, Scrad and Charlie attack MiB headquarters, forcing the pair to escape and find Jack Jeebs, an alien pawnbroker who built an illegal deneuralyzer.

After locating a locker key at the pizzeria and leaving Laura with a group of alien worms for her safety, the pair head to Grand Central Terminal, where they find a locker containing a society of tiny aliens who worship K as their deity and developed a religion around a video store membership card.

Joined by the worms, the agents infiltrate and retake MiB headquarters and rescue Laura before escaping to return the Light.

Serleena chases them across Manhattan until J tricks her into being eaten by Jeff, a gigantic worm-like alien living in the subway.

[2] Famke Janssen was originally cast as Serlenna, but dropped out due to personal issues, Lara Flynn Boyle was hired to replace her.

[10] For some of the scenes with the Serleena creature, the sound crew "took tree branches, put them inside a rubber membrane and pushed that around and added some water.

[3] Unlike the first film and the 1997 animated series, Men in Black II did not feature Agent L who was played by Linda Fiorentino, even though the character had a prominent role in the latter.

[15] Burger King began selling a variety of kids meal toys themed to the film at their restaurants.

[17] A video game partly based on the film was released in 2002, titled Men in Black II: Alien Escape.

[26] Men in Black II would hold the record for having the largest Fourth of July opening weekend until it was surpassed by Spider-Man 2 in 2004.

[1] Grossing $1.2 million, Men in Black II had the second-highest opening weekend in Taiwan, behind The Mummy Returns.

[32] In France, the film made $10 million during its opening weekend, which was the country's second-highest of all time, after Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

[33] Then, it collected $3.1 million in Mexico, making it the fifth-highest opening weekend in the country, trailing the latter film, Spider-Man, Ice Age and Dinosaur.

The website's critical consensus reads, "Lacking the freshness of the first movie, MIB 2 recycles elements from its predecessor with mixed results.

[36] A. O. Scott of The New York Times said, "Within the trivial, ingratiating scope of its ambition... the sequel is pleasant enough" and, noting the vast array of aliens designed by Rick Baker, said that the film "really belongs to Mr.