Kevin Smith’s Twilight of the Mallrats Is Stuck in Rights Limbo at Universal

Somehow, three decades after Mallrats faceplanted at the box office, we are still talking about it. It turned 30 this year, and the story around the movie is way better than its original numbers: it bombed in theaters, then quietly became a home video juggernaut. And Kevin Smith still wants to make his sequel, Twilight of the Mallrats. The only problem? Universal is holding the keys and not budging.

From flop to fan favorite

Back in 1995, Mallrats was the oddball of Smith's early run. It pulled in just $2.1 million and got torched by critics. Smith rebounded with Chasing Amy, which was widely seen as a full-on comeback, and that probably would have been the end of the Mallrats conversation. Except the movie blew up on home video.

The VHS became one of those annoying, always-out-at-Blockbuster titles, then came a DVD stacked with extras, then Blu-ray, and so on. Theatrically, it was a miss. Afterward, it turned into a cult success that just refused to die.

So where is Twilight of the Mallrats?

Because of that second life, Smith has been trying to make a sequel for years. In a new THR interview tied to the long-overdue re-release of his long-absent Dogma, he said he already wrote a full script. His plan was pretty simple: if Universal did not want to make it or co-finance it, maybe they would let the rights revert so he could produce it independently. That did not happen.

"Word then came back that Universal has never let a title go in the history of the studio. They consider themselves a catalog house. That’s how they made their fortune. That’s how the company was built. So there’s never been a precedent where they were like, 'Just take the movie and do what you want with it. Or take the movie and you can license it from us.' They’re just not in that business."

Translation: Universal keeps its library locked up, period. Smith says if the rights were freed, financing would have been easy. Without that, there are only two paths: Universal co-produces or makes it themselves, and historically they have not been interested in either. His hope is that eventually someone at the studio who grew up loving Mallrats gets the power to move the piece.

• 1995: Mallrats opens, flops with $2.1 million and lousy reviews
• Late 90s/2000s: VHS becomes a cult staple, then a bonus-packed DVD and Blu-ray keep it alive
• Smith writes Twilight of the Mallrats, aims to make it if rights revert
• Universal declines to let the rights go, and is not keen to co-produce or make it
• Current status: script exists, financing likely if rights were free, but the studio is the roadblock

Sarah Michelle Gellar as Rene?

In the same interview, Smith was told fans have floated Sarah Michelle Gellar to play Rene as a tribute to the late Shannen Doherty. Gellar apparently reacted positively on social media, and that got Smith in his feelings. He has worked with her before on Masters of the Universe: Revelation, and he called her a good egg. That show brings up a sore spot for him, though — the launch was rough thanks to the internet meltdown over killing Prince Adam temporarily and shifting the focus to mostly female characters. He says that party at executive producer Ted Biaselli's house when the show launched is one of the few good memories from that rollout.

Will we ever see it?

Right now it is a waiting game. The sequel script is written, the interest is clearly there, and the financing would not be the issue if the rights situation changed. The issue is Universal, which views its library as a vault, not a lending library.

Would you show up for Twilight of the Mallrats? I would. Universal, your move.