What made Doug Liman’s married hitman couple action comedy work was the chemistry of its stars (and the faint waft of scandal behind the scenes played its part too), the pyrotechnics of the gunplay combined nicely with the peppy dialogue and though there’s not much once the surface is scratched it was a diverting couple of hours.

Given that this film was out only five years ago there is a modicum of surprise at the news, reported today by Vulture, that Fox’s Regency Enterprises are sending Mr & Mrs Smith back in time for a prequel to the Liman film, with a whole new cast and untangling the context by making Mr & Mrs Jones (yes, that is the planned title) about a couple of spies who set up as a fake married couple once they’re on their first assignment.

Pitt and Jolie are, presumably, now too expensive for a sequel so this iteration of the original idea will be looking for the next big couple in their early twenties to fill the title roles – Hudgens and Efron must be available surely?