Posted by cue_ball1897 at ppp56.cnu.edu on December 20, 2000 at 17:21:07:
I don't really have a question for Kevin Smith, but I did have a few comments based on Mallrats...if he gets this...
Personally, when Mallrats came out I wanted to see it. I had never heard of Clerks before and just thought it looked like a good movie on it's own merit. I was rather disappointed to find on the opening night that none of the theaters in my area were running the film. A few years later I went to college to be thrown into a living situation among people I probably wouldn't have chosen to live with at the time. Well I was exposed to a worn out copy of Clerks in the Fall of 1998 and was only half paying attention due to the extent of it's previous viewings...it was in poor shape. Anyway to make a long story short (you're welcome) I finally saw Mallrats on home video and later got a chance to see Chasing Amy and a better copy of Clerks. I have since purchased these three movies on DVD. I really appreciated the the personal feel these movies projected. I mean it was a bunch of guys that got together and made a movie (Clerks), not some big network and it all took off from there...
I saw on the DVD of Mallrats that it didn't live up to your hopes and dreams...I know it was a great movie and so does everyone else I've talked to. If it were to be re-released in the theaters it would be a success in it's own right, true...but if nothing else it would be a success based on your later works and your increase reputation as a director. I don't know how expensive it would be to re-release a film, that's why I can make the suggestion...I know I'd never have to make the decision.