Kevin Smith has been keeping his directing career active on two fronts in recent years. With movies, he's helmed Tusk and Yoga Hosers, the first two entires of his True North trilogy, which will eventually conclude with Moose Jaws. On TV, he's been caught up in the worlds of superheroes helming episodes of The Flash, Supergirl and even a Batman-themed episode of The Goldbergs. However, it's been a while since he's returned to his View Askewniverse, specifically to revisit famous duo Jay and Silent Bob. However, Smith announced today that those pot-smoking, hetero-lifemates will be back on the big screen soon, as their 2001 movie Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back is getting a sequel.
Kevin Smith went on his Facebook page earlier today to drop some good news and bad news. The bad news was that Clerks III has been scrapped since one of the four leads "opted out of the flick," and he also hasn't "found any takers" for his Mallrats TV series yet after pitching it to six different networks. The good news was that he's spent the last month writing Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, which will see the eponymous characters going back to Hollywood to stop a reboot of the Bluntman and Chronic movie, which they desperately tried to shut down more than 15 years ago. Forget snootches. Rebootches!
Unlike with Clerks, Mallrats and his other early movies, Kevin Smith owns Jay and Silent Bob directly rather than a studio, so it would easier for him to revisit the View Askewniverse in this way rather than through other channels. He described the sequel as a "tongue-in-cheek, silly-ass satire that pokes fun at the movie business's recent re-do obsession, featuring an all-star cast of cameos and familiar faces." He ended the post saying that Miramax is interested in making Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, and shooting is expected to begin this summer.
Jay and Silent Bob have been part of Kevin Smith's original shared universe since the beginning, with the foul-mouthed Jay, played by Jason Mewes, and and the near-mute Bob, played by Smith, debuting in 1994's Clerks. They reappeared in Mallrats, Chasing Amy and Dogma, and by 2001, they finally snagged the spotlight for themselves in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, which saw them traveling across the country to Hollywood to prevent Bluntman & Chronic from being made. The movie saw many characters from the previous View Askewniverse films return, as well as folks like Mark Hamill, Wes Craven, George Carlin, Matt Damon and Carrie Fisher (to name just a few) cameo either as themselves or characters.
Jay and Silent Bob were last seen in 2006's Clerks II hanging around their old stomping grounds in New Jersey, so one can only imagine how they've changed (if at all) after more than a decade. We'll be sure to let you know how Jay and Silent Bob Reboot is progressing as more updates come in, but for now, let us know what you think of this duo getting another solo movie in the comment below.
