Kevin Smith’s movies have evolved and matured (relatively) as he has, but they aren’t necessarily what we think of as reflecting the world around us. Maybe they reflect Smith’s world, but global issues? We expect more fart, weed, and Star Wars jokes than anything else. While we can expect all of those in his upcoming sequel Twilight of the Mallrats, Smith promises the current COVID-19 pandemic has found its way into the script.
Smith revealed the info on his Fatman Beyond podcast (via IGN), saying that his Mallrats 2 screenplay will address the coronavirus’ impact on shopping malls, which are already struggling…
“I was working on ‘Twilight of the Mallrats,’ the ‘Mallrats 2’ script, and so I had just read last night articles about the retail apocalypse, where 2020 was going to be the death knell for a bunch of stores anyway but the pandemic has escalated that, made it worse, and we’re about to see a lot of big box stores, big-name stores that you and I have known for most of our lives just go away forever.”
“That means massive vacancies in malls, so they’re predicting the entire implosion of malls. I mean, they were already teetering, but the entire implosion of malls across America. So, as a guy who’s writing a movie set in a mall, I’m like, ‘Well that’s useful information for my line of work.’ So I had to start writing the pandemic into the movie because clearly this is going to be remembered for all time.”
This is part of the maturity Smith has often showed. While there will undoubtedly be a bunch of movies about our current situation, I promise you Smith’s will be the only one to tackle the issue from this perspective. It’s a great idea that will add some depth and timeliness to go along with Smith’s requisite brand of humor.
