Clerks III Picked Up By Lionsgate, Kevin Smith to Begin Shooting Next Month

I hope you’re supposed to be here today, but either way I still have good news if you’re a Kevin Smith fan: Clerks III is a go. Lionsgate has announced (per Deadline that they have acquired the rights for the forthcoming threequel to the 1994 indie classic. Smith announced on Facebook that production set to kick off next month on the film.

“There’s a saying from the Tao that goes something like ‘To be great is to go on. To go on is to go far. To go far is to return,’” said Smith in a statement. “Thanks to Lionsgate, we get to return to where it all started with almost the whole cast that started it all! And for the first time since the first time we ever made a movie in 1993, we’re shooting the entire flick on location in New Jersey, as an ode to both the enduring allure of cinema and the resourcefulness and lunacy of its storytellers. Years ago, Dante and Randal made me a filmmaker – so now it’s time I return the favor.”

As Smith alludes to, the new film will find Randal and Dante making their own movie that immortalizes Dante’s life at the QuickStop after Randal suffers a massive heart attack. Fellow Clerks standbys Elias (Trevor Fehrman), Jay (Jason Mewes), Silent Bob (Smith), and Becky (Rosario Dawson) will be back for the movie, which was inspired by Smith’s real-life 2018 heart attack. Fehrman and Dawson first appeared in 2006’s Clerks II as employees along with Dante and Randal at Mooby’s after the QuickStop and RST Video that the latter two worked at were destroyed in a fire.

Eda Kowan, executive vice president of Acquisitions and Co-Productions for Lionsgate, said in a statement, “The Clerks movies are audience favorites and many of Kevin’s films, like Dogma, Red State, and the Jay and Silent Bob Reboot are a beloved part of our library that continues to delight Kevin’s devoted fans. We’re thrilled to be presenting the next chapter in the Clerks saga to moviegoers worldwide.”