On September 13, 2022, Clerks III finally hit theaters across the United States after almost a decade in development. As the name suggests, it came as the third installment in the Clerks series of movies that first started in 1994. A sequel (titled Clerks II) was released in 2006.
$7 million went into the production of Clerks III, with even more being invested in marketing costs. Unfortunately, the film failed to break even at the box office, as it only grossed a total of $4.7 million. Despite this, critics were quite complimentary of the movie. The critical consensus on Rotten Tomatoes referred to the production as “surprisingly emotional,” and said that it wrapped up the trilogy “in fan-pleasing fashion.”
Fans of the franchise were indeed pleased by the movie, for the most part. While the project had turned out to be a commercial failure, the audience response was enough for creator Kevin Smith to contemplate the prospect of a Clerks IV. “As long as I’m alive, there’s a chance there’s another Clerks coming,” he famously told Yahoo! Entertainment in 2022.
Beyond the big screen, Clerks has spawned something of a mini-universe, comprising a series of comics written by Smith as well as Clerks: The Animated Series which aired on ABC in the early 2000s. One project in the franchise that never really took off was a live-action TV adaptation of the original film, which was in development in the ‘90s.
Clerks Was The First And Breakthrough Project Of Kevin Smith’s Career
The movie Clerks was in fact writer and director Kevin Smith’s first foray into the world of making professional feature films. Shot on a shoestring budget of just $27,575, the black-and-white comedy about a day in the life of two slacker convenience store clerks became an instant cult classic.
With another $230,000 or so going into other post-production costs, Clerks raked in an impressive $4.4 million at the box office. In the years that followed, Smith’s career took off, and he became known for his irreverent, profanity-laced dialogue and pop culture references.
A review of Clerks on The Guardian praised Smith for making the movie “for practically nothing,” and for his multi-purpose functionality as writer, director, producer and actor — as the character known as Silent Bob.
Similar sentiments have also been echoed by critics who watched the movie in later years. One such review said: “After 22 years, Clerks remains a quintessential part of ‘90s independent cinema, and the start of the career of one of the most well-rounded directors and writers of this era, Kevin Smith.”
Touchstone Produced A Clerks TV Pilot In 1995
In 1995, Touchstone Television produced a pilot for a live-action TV series based on the Kevin Smith cult classic from the previous year. The corporation enlisted the services of Richard Day to develop the concept. The writer would come to be known for Arrested Development and Aliens in America among others, but at that point he had only worked on the Fox sitcom Woops!, which was canceled after just one season.
Smith was originally unaware of any plans for the production of a Clerks TV series until the process of casting had started. He, along with producer Scott Mosier and actor Jason Mewes, had been busy with the production of Mallrats at the time. When they got wind of the project, they made efforts to become involved.
The original film’s stars, Brian O’Halloran and Jeff Anderson, also both auditioned to reprise their roles of Dante and Randal but were replaced by Andrew Lowery and future SNL performer Jim Breuer. When the pilot was all done and they got to watch it, Smith, Mosier, Mewes, O’Halloran and Anderson all agreed that it was terrible.
Why Did The Clerks Live-Action TV Series Fail?
The Clerks TV series project faced a number of obstacles that prevented it from living up to the high bar set by the original film. To start with, the show veered away from the movie in a number of significant ways. Despite Brian O’Halloran and Jeff Anderson offering to reprise their roles, none of the original cast members appeared in the small screen adaptation. The pair would later go as far as to say that they were glad they weren’t involved in the series production.
Kevin Smith had also written the movie Clerks using his signature foul language and references to elements in popular culture. Touchstone Television was open to having him on board for the TV show, but he is said to have quickly realized that most of his ideas were being shot down. The absence of that unique touch he brought to the Clerks world did not help the cause much, either.
Smith would later translate some of the ideas that he had for the live-action show in the animated series. When the Clerks pilot failed to elicit the intended response, the project was canceled without receiving an order to series.
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