Kevin Smith has been working on a possible Clerks III since 2012, when he said he planned on it to be his final movie as a director. While a few updates have trickled in since then, yesterday Variety reported that The Weinstein Company – who owns the rights to the Clerks franchise – had passed on the sequel’s $6M price tag. “[The Weinsteins] passed,†Smith said. “I went in with a $6 million budget and they were like, ‘Oh no, Kevin. This is too high.’ Bob offered us distribution, but they weren’t going to finance it.â€
While the lack of financial backing for Clerks seems like a discouraging sign of the movie’s future, Smith assured fans on Twitter today that the movie will get made either way after one of his followers asked him whether it’s still happening: “Heavens yes, just not with the Weinsteins’ money. And all involved are okay with this.†Whether Smith will find the money somewhere else or choose to crowdfund the sequel isn’t certain yet, but in the meantime he’ll be working on another sequel to his horror movie Tusk, which is due out later this year.