Over the last few years, Kevin Smith has gone on the record to confirm his exit from the industry, in light of his then-recent experiences as a filmmaker. After the success of podcast-inspired Tusk, a cheeky horror comedy that proved he’s still got the chops, Smith’s career is now fully revitalized with the next two years jam-packed full of productions. One of which may be a sequel to his 1995 flick Mallrats.
In a post to his official Facebook, Smith outlined his upcoming slate, and it contains several references that some readers may find exciting:
“Saw some websites are reporting CLERKS III will be my last flick. I did say this at one point, but Tusk changed all that. Now, the next 2 years are booked. We shoot CLERKS III in May. The HIT SOMEBODY hockey miniseries finally follows in the fall, shooting September to Christmas 2015. Then in Feb/March 2016, we tackle MOOSE JAWS and ANTI-CLAUS. And after that? I smell a rat…”
Clerks III has been in development for a while now. Initially, Smith courted it to Harvey Weinstein for funding, and subsequently, he wound up without a solid budget in place. Heading back to his indie roots, Smith and his loyal band of supporters released the brilliant and underrated genre caper Tusk. On the back of that outing, financing was secured for Clerks III – and now we know when the cameras are set to roll.
His long-touted hockey title Hit Somebody has undergone another switch by the sounds of his message. Originally outlined as a series, it flipped during early development to movie status, and now it has returned to the format Smith intended.
However, the hidden kernel within his message is in the tail end, “I smell a rat…” has raised an excited wave of flags all over the web. Could it be that another instalment of Brody and TS’s juvenile antics is on its way, too? How exactly this may emerge is yet another intriguing concept. The 1995 comedy served as Smith’s first foray into studio pictures, and alas, it was dubbed a failure on account of not netting a big enough haul at the box office. Of course, the measure of success depends entirely on your chosen device; because the fans loved it. Since its home video release, Mallrats has risen in the ranks and become of the View Askewniverse’s most revered titles.
If that sneaky signoff hints at something true, we could be looking at a Mallrats sequel hitting theaters sometime in 2017. Before then, Smith is closing out his horror trilogy. Following on from Tusk, Yoga Hosers is slated to arrive on June 1st, with final instalment, Moose Jaws expected in 2016. Clerks III is expected to lens in Pittsburgh this May with no confirmed release date as yet.