After nearly a decade of promises and false hope, it appears that we are as close as we have ever been to a Mallrats sequel.
The second installment of Smith’s interconnected View Askewniverse, Mallrats, was a failure at the box office when it came out in 1995. But as was the case with most movies by Smith, it would go on to become a cult classic, fueling desires for a direct follow-up rather than reintroducing multiple characters in subsequent entries to the View Askewniverse franchise. It seems we are finally getting closer to that moment, as director Kevin Smith hinted on the latest episode of his Fat Man Beyond podcast.
As he offered some insight about his plans for the year and what’s in development, Kevin Smith couldn’t resist expressing his excitement about Mallrats 2. While several other writing ventures are the priority in his schedule, he also revealed that studios are finally becoming interested in producing the long-awaited sequel. Even if a specific date for the start of the production couldn’t be disclosed, the fact it’s gaining traction is good news.
Here’s what Smith had to say on the matter, around the 122-minute mark in the latest episode of his podcast:
I got a bunch of things. For the first few months of the year, I’m going to be writing. I’ve got a bunch of writing projects for other people, so I’m unfortunately not at liberty to reveal, but some of them are f–king wonderful. That’s a different beast than the stuff I do for myself. What am I most looking forward to? We’re seeing some traction on Mallrats 2: Twilight of the Mallrats, so…fingers crossed, folks. We heard from the Lionsgate folks, and they were very happy with the performance of Clerks III. I’m not allowed to say anything else. [Producer Jordan Monsanto] is like, ‘I can’t tell you anything because then you go talk about it on your f–king show…but things are looking good, so this could be the year that we return to the mall.
With Clerks III already on the big screen, there might never be a better time for a reunion with Brodie and T.S. at the mall. To give credit where it’s due, Smith has done his best to get the project off the ground after announcing it in early 2015.
Since then we’ve seen Smith give multiple updates on his efforts and even play around with the idea of converting the sequel to a 10-episode miniseries. The biggest step forward had happened three years ago when Smith confirmed he’s back to writing Mallrats 2, now titled Twilight of the Mallrats. The announcement of his plans to return the original cast members fueled the anticipation even more.
A big problem preventing the realization of the project is finances. Universal partially holds the rights to the original movie, and since it grossed only one-third of its budget at the box office, it’s understandable why they would be hesitant to support a follow-up.
