It has been quite a while since fans have received any updates regarding the long-awaited sequel to Clerks II, but the wait is finally over.
Kevin Smith aficionados have known about the sequel since last fall when Smith took to Instagram to announce that the film was in the works. All was quiet until February 4th, when Smith revealed on Twitter that the third installment of Clerks will take place almost entirely at Quick Stop. Which is great, because that’s just like the first film.
Check out his tweet below:
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Third Time’s A Clerks Charm
The original film took place at a New Jersey convenience store, combined with a video game rental business inspired by Smith’s own experience working as a clerk. Clerks II took a different approach, being set after the closure of Quick Stop due to a fire causing Randal and Dante to work at the fast-food restaurant Mooby’s.
When Clerks II came out in 2006, it received mixed reviews. The general critic consensus from Rotten Tomatoes states. “Clerks II dishes up much of the graphic humor and some of the insight that made the 1994 original a cult hit.” In general, audiences felt that the sequel didn’t feel like a proper sequel to Clerks.
When announcing the third film’s development, Smith stated the following in his Instagram post.
“It’ll be a movie that concludes a saga. It’ll be a movie about how you’re never too old to completely change your life. It’ll be a movie about how a decades-spanning friendship finally confronts the future. It’ll be a movie that brings us back to the beginning – a return to the cradle of civilization in the great state of New Jersey.”
The first Clerks released in 1994 and started a whole cinematic universe of movies dubbed the View Askewniverse. This is significant as the concept of a cinematic universe would not be popularized until the release of Iron Man in 2008. Since the release of Clerks, there have been 7 other movies to come out in the View Askewniverse; the most successful of those being Dogma, which grossed $44 million dollars in the worldwide box office.
Other future projects of Smith’s include Killroy Was Here and Twilight of the Mallrats. The latter is also a sequel to one of his earlier releases, Mallrats, which came out in 1995.
There is currently no release date announced for Clerks III, but we at The Illuminerdi will keep you posted when more is revealed.