Kevin Smith raises money for Clerks III

It turns out Tusk wasn’t left gasping for air at the Box Office after all.

Kevin Smith recently took to Reddit to defend his new movie Tusk, after rumours started circulating that the film was suffering at the Box Office. Smith also took to numerous podcasts including Hollywood Babble-On to discuss the reception of the movie and how it has actually helped secure financing for Clerks III and also paved the way to finishing the True North Trilogy – which started with Tusk – follows with Yoga Howsers (filming already underway) and concludes with Moose Jaws (basically Jaws – with a moose).

You certainly have to respect Smith’s candid way with words: “Tusk opened about as poorly as a movie can open. Honestly, I read a lot of f***ing pieces the day after were like utter disaster and s**t like that. I did. As per usual, the people that love me, love me, but the people that f***ing hate me, hate my guts.

“As for why Tusk didn’t do better: it’s a weeeeeird movie, man. It was always a midnight movie, not a mainstream movie. When A24 said they wanted to go out on 600 screens (and at one point, there was even talk of 1,000 screens, if you can believe that), it was a wonderful vote of confidence. Now we know that wide release vote of confidence was misplaced on me and my walrus movie in this instance.”

According to Box Office Mojo, Tusk opened in just over 600 cinemas for a total take of $846,831. In the last week and a half it’s made nearly $1.5 million at the box office. That’s not bad for a movie released on about one-eighth of the screens compared to a behemoth like Guardians of the Galaxy. Additionally, with its meager budget of $3 million already covered, it’s all profit from the final domestic box office tally in combination with foreign, VOD and home video profits

Smith – a man who barely four years ago was talking about retirement – also offered more insight into his enthusiastic return to movies: “Everything in my life would suck right now if I hadn’t made that movie. I’m back in movies now. I’ve got three lined up, and this is the f***ing grand news. Tusk was the absolute bridge to Clerks III. Because of Tusk, I got my financing for Clerks III.

“And honestly, that would not have happened – A year and change ago I was trying to f***ing desperately get Clerks III made for the 20th anniversary. And that desperation, I must have reeked of it, because I couldn’t f***ing find money and s**t. But it was Tusk, it was people going ‘Holy F**k! What else do you have?’ And I was like, ‘Clerks III,’ done. So everybody that’s like, ‘He failed, he failed,’ thank you I failed into Clerks III. So, never trust anybody when they tell you how your story goes, man. You know your story. You write your own story. 

Frankly, it would have been great if Clerks III had been ready for a 20th anniversary commemoration, but just to hear the news that it has secured financing is good enough for us. Smith’s churning out some good movies as of late including Red State, Tusk – part of The True North trilogy and now we have Clerks III to look forward to. It’s also nice to see Smith taking risks and leaving his comfort zone. It’s nice to see Smith so enthused about making movies again, as opposed to talking about them all night on his podcasts.

Are you looking forward to more misadventures with Dante, Randell and Jay and Silent Bob? Sound off your thoughts below.

Source: Nerdbastards.com