Clerks II - Box Office Analysis

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Movie Spotlight - Clerks II

For the first time in more than 10 years, the main cast of Clerks are reuniting for a new sequel. Since they starred in that groundbreaking film, these four men, Kevin Smith, Jason Mewes, Brian O'Halloran and Jeff Anderson, have had amazingly varied and diverse careers.

Clerks - A Look Back

Clerks was a small independently financed film made in 1994 for a mere $26,800, which was raised by Kevin Smith through friends, credit cards, even selling his comic book collection. The soundtrack alone cost $27,000 to secure the rights to, which was the first time in movie history the soundtrack cost more than the movie itself. Bought by Miramax, the film was originally given an NC-17 rating despite to total lack of nudity and almost no violence. That should have been the end of the film since NC-17 films are nearly impossible to release theatrically as most theatres won't play them. However, the studio believed so much in the movie that they hired First Amendment attorney Alan Dershowitz to fight the ruling and it was eventually reduced to an R-rating. The film earned more than $3 million theatrical, making it just one of 11 films that cost less than $100,000 and earned more than $1 million at the box office. However impressive that was, the film really hit gold on its home market releases on Laserdisc and DVD.

But what has happened to our four leading actors since that time and where have their diverse careers taken them?

- Story continues below

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Kevin Smith

Since directing and starring in Clerks, Kevin Smith has seen his directing and acting careers diverge dramatically, as you can clearly see from the charts above. Perhaps the film that best exemplifies his artistic vision was Chasing Amy, a deeply personal film and the movie that earned the most critical praise of his entire career. Written after his break-up with actress Joey Loren Adams, whom he cast in the lead of Chasing Amy (which is either artistic vision, or insanity), this film continued Kevin Smith's mastery of dialogue while showing he had matured since he started filmmaking, even if he was still able to throw around F-bombs with the best of them.

Jason Mewes - Born to Play Jay

Since playing the pot smoking, drug dealing slacker Jay in the first Clerks film, Jason Mewes has really blossomed as an actor, and no film proves that more than Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Playing the titular character, Jay, this was a completely different role than in past films as instead of playing a small role as a pot smoking, drug dealing slacker, he was playing the lead role, as a pot smoking, drug dealing slacker. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back wasn't the best reviewed film mentioned on this list, but it is a fan-favorite and is sublimely immature. While it features more absurd moments than in the other films, it also features the same style of dialogue that has made Kevin Smith film's so immediately recognizable. Add in cameos by practically every actor working today as well as a certain profanity at a rate of more than two per minute and you have a film that will please the Kevin Smith faithful, but is certainly not a movie for the faint of heart.

Brian O'Halloran - A Hell of a Good Actor

Brian O'Halloran is perhaps best know for playing the put upon convenience store clerk in the original Clerks, Dante Hicks. Since then, he has had as varied a career as an actor could wish from his role of game show contestant, Gill Hicks, in Mallrats to TV executive, Jim Hicks, in Chasing Amy, to TV reporter, Grant Hicks, in Dogma. It is his role in the last film that interests me the most for not only was his role the most gripping, but also the movie itself was the most controversial. It has been said that one should never discuss politics or religion in public since these subjects are so contentious, and of the two, religion is by far the worst. (On a side note, mixing the two is a sure path to terror and the equivalent of conversational napalm.) The film was denounced by Christian groups and even resulted in death threats, death threats that were consider serious enough threat that the View Askew production office had to employ a bomb disposal expert to check their mail. What makes this reaction so strange is the fact that the film, like its director, is pro-religion. In fact, Kevin Smith was raised Catholic and to this day attends church on a weekly basis and even tithes 10% of his income to the Church. That's a claim very few people can make. However, religion being the way that it is, even saying something positive can offend someone if you don't say it the right way, and using the F-bomb so many times was probably part of the problem.

Jeff Anderson - Kicking Ass and Chewing Gum

Without doubt, Jeff Anderson's biggest role since Clerks was Mallrats where he played... what do you mean he wasn't in Mallrats? ... He wasn't in Chasing Amy either?!? Oh, this can't be. Alright, Kevin Smith, you need to release special editions of both of these movies and digitally insert Jeff Anderson into them somewhere. After all, George Lucas was able to do that with his Star Wars and people loved those changes.

Moving on...

The term that can best describe Mallrats is, 'Sophomore Slump.' Part of the problem was he was trying to maintain his fanbase while expanding the film's reach. This meant while continuing his numerous references to comic books, he felt the need to explain them. Like early in the film when Jason Mewes does his Wolverine impression and Jason Lee explained what it was. As soon as Jay went, "Schtick! Schtick!" every comic book fan knew exactly what he was doing, and the rest didn't care.

But, despite the weak reception amongst critics and moviegoers alike, it still became a big hit on the home market and is still a worthy entry to the View Askewniverse.

Which of these movies will Clerks II resemble the most? The original Clerks? The sophomore Mallrats? The personal Chasing Amy? The controversial Dogma? Or the playful Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back? Only time will tell, but fans of Kevin Smith will likely flock to the theatres to find out for themselves.

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