Kevin Smith Confirms Mallrats Sequel, MallBrats

Writer-director Kevin Smith has revealed that the long overdue (or, dependent on your point of view, totally unexpected) sequel to his 1995 comedy ‘Mallrats’ is to be entitled ‘MallBrats.’

The filmmaker and prominent fan culture commentator made the reveal via Instagram, posting an image of the cover of his recently finished script alongside a photograph of himself on the set of ‘Mallrats’ with the late producer James Jacks, to whom he dedicated the sequel.

Smith's text reads "20 years in the making. 113 pages fulla old friends, new jokes and a bloody battle w/ @therealstanlee! This is for you, Jim. Wish you were here... #MallBrats."

Plot details are non-existent at present, but it is known that pretty much the entire cast of the original looks set to return, including Jason Lee, Jeremy London, Ethan Suplee, Shannen Doherty, Michael Rooker, Renee Humphrey, Joey Lauren Adams, Sven-Ole Thorsen, Scott Mosier, Bryan Johnson, Walt Flanagan, Brian O’Halloran, Claire Forlani and Stan Lee (in a 'bloody battle,' apparently, and we can't to see what that might look like.)

The only notable absentee at present is Ben Affleck, who had an early role in 'Mallrats' and went on to be Smith's leading man of choice for several movies before going up in the world.

- Melissa McCarthy’s Role In Ghostbusters Reboot
- Are Stan Lee’s Marvel Cameos Linked?
- Star Wars Fans Rally For Cancer-Stricken Friend

For a long time, the idea of a ‘Mallrats’ follow-up seemed too absurd to even contemplate. The 1995 comedy was Smith’s second film as writer-director, following on from his 1994 breakthrough ‘Clerks,’ famously shot on a shoestring in the New Jersey convenience store the young fledgling filmmaker worked in at the time.

By contrast, ‘Mallrats’ was a comparatively big budget mainstream production for Universal with a professional cast, and a bona fide Hollywood producer in Jacks (whose recent work had included ‘Hard Target’ and ‘Tombstone,’ and would go on to produce ‘The Mummy’ series, before prematurely passing away in 2014).

Unfortunately it proved a colossal misfire on release, bombing in US cinemas, and ultimately going direct to video in Britain. The failure put Smith off studio filmmaking, hence he went back to his indie roots with his follow-up ‘Chasing Amy.’

However, before long ‘Mallrats’ accrued a huge cult following thanks to its anarchic humour which tapped into a realm largely unexplored by movies at the time: comic book fan culture.

Jason Lee’s whip-smart motormouth Brodie proved a new representation of a comic book geek on screen; far from the nervous, socially awkward stereotype, he was hyper-confident, cool, even successful with the ladies. This, along with Smith’s later films, definitely had a role to play in normalising fandom, arguably laying the groundwork for the comic book movie wave of the early 2000s.

The film is littered with nods to fandom, with an eye-catching opening credit sequence paying homage to a slew of iconic comic book covers, numerous scenes in which Smith’s Silent Bob and Jason Mewes’ Jay recreate moments from ‘Batman’ and ‘Star Wars,’ and a conversation about the logistics of sex with Superman which, remarkably, landed Smith the job of writing the screenplay for the infamously aborted ‘Superman Lives.’

Perhaps most notably, ‘Mallrats’ featured an extended cameo from comic book legend Stan Lee as himself - kicking off a run of comic book movie cameos which shows no signs of stopping even 20 years later.

In what might also have been an influential move for the future of comic book movies, Smith set ‘Mallrats’ within his own overlapping cinematic universe, the Askewniverse - named after his production company View Askew - which incorporated ‘Clerks,’ and would go on to include ‘Chasing Amy,’ ‘Dogma,’ ‘Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back’ and ‘Clerks 2.′ (A third ‘Clerks’ is also expected down the line.)

Given that Smith seemed to have moved away from his roots of late with the non-Askewniverse horror movies ‘Red State,’ ‘Tusk’ and the upcoming ‘Yoga Hosers,’ a return to ‘Mallrats’ territory seemed less likely than ever - but even so, Smith has promised ‘MallBrats’ will be his next film, set to shoot later this year.

- Risque Deadpool Mother’s Day Image
- Is Captain America A Virgin?
- Ruffalo Defends Whedon Against Sexism Claims

Picture Credit: Kevin Smith/Instagram, Universal