Kevin Smith’s Mallrats was a commercial bomb in 1995, but found new life and an audience on VHS. Ever since, Smith and his fans have mused about the possibility of a sequel to the movie, which centered around a pair of college-aged slackers who spent their days hanging around the local mall. Brodie Bruce, Jason Lee’s character form Mallrats, has appeared in a couple of Smith’s films in the intervening years, with minor roles in both Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, but a full-on return to the Eden Prairie Mall has not happened yet.
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That could change soon, if Smith has his way. In the latest episode of his podcast Fatman Beyond, Smith hinted that Mallrats 2 could go into production in 2023. If so, it’s likely that would be his second film to shoot next year, given that he already promised a 2023 production start to a period piece that will be partially filmed at the movie theater he recently purchased a stake in.
“I got a bunch of things,” Smith teased of 2023. “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…”
He stopped, crossed his fingers, and continued, “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.”
You can see the full podcast below, with the part about The Twilight of the Mallrats at around the 2-hour mark.
Little is known about the plot of Twilight of the Mallrats, but between the title and Brodie’s cameo appearance in Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, it seems likely it will center on the decline of shopping malls in America. In his last appearance, Brodie joked about how the mall his store was in, was so deserted that he spent time chasing down small animals invading the place.
Aparna Brielle, who appeared in Reboot, will also appear in the film, playing the daughter of Brodie and his wife Rene (Shannen Doherty).
“I was so impressed with @aparnabrielle, I built my next flick around her,” Smith tweeted during a Quarantine Watch Party screening of Jay and Silent Bob Reboot.
He has said previously that Doherty would return, as will most of the original stars from the 1995 cult classic.
