Lionsgate Movies has released the first official trailer for the long-awaited Clerks 3, which serves as a direct sequel to the series that had films released in 1994 and 2006. The film is set to be released on September 13.
Aptly, the movie poster’s tagline reads “they’re too old for this s***.” Last year, director Kevin Smith shared a bit about how much he rethought how to approach this sequel, and how a heart attack in 2018 prompted an infusion of heaviness into the project’s eventual story. A synopsis reads: “Following a massive heart attack, Randal enlists Dante, Elias, Jay, and Silent Bob to make a movie immortalizing his life at the convenience store that started it all.” Smith has indicated this will be a “personal story… drawing directly on the heart attack that nearly killed me.” That said, the trailer still shows the film will retain a sense of humor–check it out below.
Smith has written the screenplay and will direct, with all major cast members reprising their roles: Jeff Anderson as Randal, Brian O’Halloran as Dante, Jay Mewes as Jay, Smith as Silent Bob, and Rosario Dawson as Becky. The film entered pre-production in July 2021, began filming on August 2 that year–Smith’s birthday.
Clerks 3 could have come along much sooner, but was delayed by Smith butting heads with The Weinstein Company. As Smith told Variety in 2020, “You can’t tell this fairy tale story without mentioning the monster.” Harvey Weinstein, now a convicted sex offender and former film producer, refused to pay Smith royalties for Clerks–landing the franchise’s future in an uncertain status and embattled over its rights, and was also why Smith shot down fan campaigns for him to crowdfund the film’s financing.
Fortunately, the long and winding road to Clerks 3 is nearly behind us–the film is due to hit theaters on September 13.
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