Kevin Smith Hopeful for Ben Affleck’s Return in ‘Mallrats 2’
By George Robbins
Kevin Smith is known for a number of indie films that have become cult favorites over the years. Among those films from the 90’s when he began his directing career was the movie ‘Mallrats.’ The plot of the movie followed two slackers one day while they are in a mall after their girlfriends break up with them. What follows is a day they will never forget involving a sailboat painting, a scheming store manager, Stan Lee, and a game show. This movie has a diverse cast of characters that all have their own problems and issues, and while some of the stuff in the movie seems out of the ordinary, it really is just a day at the mall. This is what makes the movie memorable in the minds of a lot of the people who’ve seen it.
When the pandemic began, no one could really leave their houses for anything other than the absolutely essential items. So with that in mind people had to find things to do in order to keep themselves from losing their minds in isolation. This, of course, includes writers who were out of work at the time due to film productions being shut down to prevent spread of the virus. Smith found himself stuck without much else to do but work on other projects that he had by the wayside up to this point including a sequel to the cult movie ‘Mallrats.’ So he started working on getting the movie ready for production by working on the script for the sequel.
Nowadays, movie productions are starting back up again with a lot of restrictions in place to keep people from getting the virus. This means that productions that were in the middle of filming can continue working while new productions can begin. Maybe soon Smith will begin the production process for his new sequel and we will get the movie in the, hopefully, not too distant future. Not much is currently known about the plot for the film, but Smith has made it known that he intends to make it reflect the climate that we have had to deal with. He believes that this is a time period that will not be forgotten and believes it will find its way into art from this point onward.
The sequel, called ‘Twilight of the Mallrats’ by Smith, will be a piece of media that will show the world how it currently is to anybody who watches it. If this is true, then the film will be something of a time capsule in the same way the first film depicts society in the 90’s. With a new spike in cases nationwide as a result of people being able to go out more than they were before, there is no telling when filming will start, but Smith already has his cast lined up. He has most of the original cast coming back to the film and while he may not yet have Ben Affleck signed on to reprise his role from the first ‘Mallrats’ he is hopeful that he will. After playing a main antagonist in the first film for one of the main characters it would only make sense if he returned, even for a small part. At this point it is up to Affleck to reprise the role even just momentarily.