INQUISITR.COM / Entertainment

‘Mallrats 2’ Is Coming To You — As A TV Show

By Victoria Miller
Published on: 13:25 PST, Jun 10, 2016

Kevin Smith has confirmed that Mallrats 2 is coming, but now it won’t be a movie. The 1995 movie, Mallrats, will get a second life with a sequel on the small screen, according to Entertainment Weekly. In an interview with WMMR’s Preston & Steve Show, Smith revealed that while he tried to license and finance a second Mallrats movie with Universal, he hit a snag, so now he’s looking to turn the project into a 10-episode television series.

“We started reconfiguring the idea of doing Mallrats not as a film but as a series, and Universal and I are just about to close our deal to do Mallrats the series,” Kevin told the Philadelphia radio hosts. “Then we take it out into the world and find a home for it. So, instead of doing a Mallrats movie, I’m going to do 10 episodes of a Mallrats series.”

Last year, Smith announced he was working on a Mallrats sequel and he dished that it would be titled Mallbrats. He even found the mall he wanted to shoot the film in, in Exton, Pennsylvania, and tweeted the news to fans.

Now Kevin explains that while he thought he could fund the new movie himself, he found out that Universal wouldn’t let the Mallrats title go.

“We submitted the script and my agent comes back to me and he goes, ‘Well, apparently Universal has never let a catalog title go, any title they own, they’ve retained,” the Mallrats director told WMMR. “They’ve never done something where they’re like, ‘Oh, you can take it back and go make a sequel.’ Never in the history of the studio. So we entered a protracted negotiation with Universal trying to get it made in different pockets of the studio.”

According to Philly Voice, the Mallrats creator still hopes to shoot the mall scenes in the Exton Square Mall, which is located in the Philadelphia suburbs.

“I haven’t told anybody this, so I guess this is kind of an exclusive,” he said of Mallrats 2. “It is happening. It’s just taking us a longer time to build it. What we did is reconfigure it… A couple months ago we started reconfiguring the idea of doing Mallrats not as a film as a series. My plan is still to do it [in Pennsylvania] because the Exton Square Mall people were absolutely lovely and the mall is perfect for all our needs… As far as I’m concerned that’s where we are going.”

While he has yet to find a network to broadcast the new Mallrats TV show, it shouldn’t be hard. Even canceled shows can find a new life in today’s broadened television landscape. (Think Nashville). And there’s always Netflix, as John Stamos found out when he pitched Fuller House.

“Who knew that TV would be the salvation of that movie,” Smith said of Mallrats.

As for what to expect for Mallrats 2, at New York Comic-Con last fall, the filmmaker dropped a few plot details. Den Of Geek reported that the sequel will center around Brodie, who was originally played by Jason Lee. There’s a “save the Clock Tower” moment, where Brodie organizes a Comic-Con at the mall in order to save it, but terrorists take over.

Smith has also been very active on social media, posting updates on the original Mallrats stars who agreed to sign on to the Mallrats 2 sequel. He posted that Jason Lee, Jeremy London, Ethan Suplee, Shannen Doherty, Jason Mewes, Michael Rooker, and Stan Lee would all return for the Mallrats 2 movie, but it still remains to be seen if they’ll participate in the Mallrats 2 TV show.

Take a look at the video below for more on Mallrats 2.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5f58zNPAuI

[Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for WIRED]

Share this article: ‘Mallrats 2’ Is Coming To You — As A TV Show
kevin smith
More from Inquisitr