Kevin Smith has carved out an interesting career in recent years, most notably writing and directing sequels to Jay and Silent Bob and Clerks III. It’s been a long time since Smith essentially broke with the studio system with Red State (following the disastrous Cop Out), and his approach with his sequels has been unique: He personally toured with them around the country and/or they were screened as special events through Fathom.

His last film, Clerks III, did not earn its $7 million production budget back at the box office ($4.7 million), but I suspect it did just fine on digital because, even after all these years, Smith’s got a passionate fanbase, and he makes decent crowd-pleasers.

His next film appears to be set outside of the View Askew universe. It’s called The 4:30 Movie, and it is a coming-of-age film centered on three 16-year-olds set in 1986. The teenagers “spend their Saturdays sneaking into movies at the local multiplex. But when one of the guys also invites the girl of his dreams to see the latest comedy, each of the teens will learn something serious about life and love before the credits roll.”

It should not cost too much to produce, as it is set in a movie theater that Kevin Smith co-owns, the same theater he used to sneak in when he was 16, Smodcastle Cinemas in New Jersey.

The principal cast is Austin Zajur, Nicholas Cirillo, Reed Northrup, and Siena Agudong, but this is a Kevin Smith movie, so expect cameos from the likes of Ken Jeong, Sam Richardson, Justin Long, Jason Lee, Rachel Dratch, Kate Micucci, Adam Pally, Deidrich Bader, Jason Lee, Method Man, and his daughter, Harley Quinn Smith.

The film will be distributed by Saban Films, which seems to specialize in B-movies starring former A-list stars, the sort of movies one might expect to see in a Red Box machine. I don’t really understand the market for them (they probably do well overseas), but the fact that so many are made suggests a profit is being made.

Source: Deadline

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