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The stoner duo makes the cross-country trip from New Jersey to Hollywood and along the way they meet up with a quartet of sexy diamond thieves (that's Chrissy, Sissy, Missy and Justice)...and an orangutan. The escaped orangutan gets a federal wildlife marshal on their tail, and the whole shebang climaxes as Jay and Silent Bob make it to the Mirmax lot, crashing through the sets of a whole bunch of movies, both real and imaginary. And, oh, yeah - the "secret origin" of Jay and Silent Bob is finally revealed!
THE SCOOP: Smith swears up and down that his fifth movie is the final chapter in the "view Askew-niverse" series of films featuring Jay, Silent Bob and the gang. "Who knew this was going to be a career?" he asks. "We'll do a pretty good job of closing the book on this phase before heading into the next." In terms of "next," Smith is looking to possibly turn his attention to more "serious" films. Leftover loose ends? They'll be addressed in a different format. "Whatever plot threads might be left, I like to call 'comic stories.' They'll eventually end up as an issue of the comics," Smith says, referring to his line at Image Comics. In the meantime, look for cameos from almost every actor from Smith's previous flicks in an effort to wrap things up tightly. Chris Rock, Alanis Morissette, Joey Lauren Adams, Brian O'Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Shannen Doherty and George Carlin will all appear. New faces appear, too: The "Star Wars" pair of Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher will have roles, as will ever-present Smith comic book buds such as Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada and "Batman Beyond" Producer Paul Dini. Oh, yeah - and one top-secret, unnamed Marvel Comics character will actually make a fully sanctioned appearance!
-Jim McLauchlin
Wow, major major article and a TON of info there. There's also a small article on pg 23 on the Bluntman & Chronic trade coming out in August, but no real new info about that. There's another small article on pg 64 in their Summer 2001 Preview section about Green Arrow, asking "Can Kevin Smith and 'Green Arrow' Steal the No. 1 Sales Spot Away From The X-Men?" and Green Arrow #1 is in the number one spot AGAIN in the HOT 10 COMICS list on pg 118, with issue #2 in the 8th spot.
Also, shipping to comic retailers this week is Image's Backlist Catalogue, where comic retailers can order many of their backlist trade paperbacks. In a two page spread are the new versions of the Clerks & Chasing Dogma trades, as well as the Bluntman & Chronic trade, featuring a DIFFERENT photo cover than previously seen.
AND FINALLY:
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To say it went incredibly well would be a vast understatement. I'll let the scores speak for themselves.
I'm sure most of you are familiar with the testing process. Cards are given out at the end of the screening, and data is compiled from a series of boxes (Excellent, Very Good, Good, Fair, Poor) in regards to a variety of topics (Characters, Pace, Music, Overall, etc). But when all's said and done, there are only two categories that mean anything.
One is the "Top Two Boxes" - the combined score of which is the quoted figure that's constantly refered back to ("We have to bring the scores up. It only scored a thirty in the top two boxes.").
The other is the "Definitely Recommend". This is in the recommend category in which the viewer is asked would they Definitely, Probably, Probably Not, or Definitely Not recommend the movie to others.
In the Top Two Boxes, in which the average (or normal) acceptable score is 55%, 'Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back' scored 86%. 86% of the audience said the film was Excellent or Very Good.
In the Definite Recommend category, in which the average (or normal) acceptable score is 45%, 'Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back' received a 79%.
We have never... NEVER received scores like that. To wit, the highest 'Dogma' ever scored was a 60% or 65% in the Top Two Boxes, with a 35% to 40% definite recommend. 'Amy' was somewhere in that range as well.
The Dimension folks informed me that these were some of the highest numbers not only in their history, but also Miramax's.
And in terms of who made up the audience, only 14% of the group had seen all four of the prior flicks. So it wasn't like we screened to a group of total fans; we were screening to fresh faces.
But let's put aside the numbers and just talk about the screening in general.
It went like gangbusters. The audience was with the movie every step of the way. I've never heard an audience laugh so much in any of our prior flicks' screenings.
It was... amazing.
Many thanks to all in attendance. 341 of you came, and none of you walked out (also a first for us; there's always been at least a 2% walk-out rate). But most importantly, according to the numbers, virtually all of you enjoyed yourselves (indeed, the "Fair" and "Poor" ratings were 3% and 1% respectively).
I am a happy, happy man.
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The star of the original Star Wars trilogy, MARK HAMILL (Luke Skywalker), is returning to the big screen with a promising cameo in the next movie from acclaimed filmmaker Kevin Smith (Clerks, Chasing Amy, Dogma). The latest in the director's "New Jersey series" is called Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, and in addition to Jason Mewes and Smith himself in the title roles, the cast features an all-star ensemble of past Smith cast members, including Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Jason Lee, and George Carlin, as well as newcomers Shannon Elizabeth, Jason Riggs, Will Ferrell, and many more. In the new comedy, Hamill appears in a lightsaber like duel in a spoof scene that the director refers to as "the BluntCave sequence," which seems to recall a certain cave on a certain swamp planet in a certain film about a certain Empire striking back with, well, certainty. On his official Web site, viewaskew.com, Smith said the sequence was "a real gem of a scene, due largely to two factors: Mark and Hamill... Good Lord, was he fun to have around. He's a real sweet-heart of a guy who doesn't play up the fact that he's a living, American icon. He'll be missed."
Also, Joey Lauren Adams and Ali Larter received mentions for their "Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back" roles in an article entitled "Watch for Reel Hot Babes: From your dreams to the big sreen" in the summer edition of MH-18 (a teen spin-of of Men's Health magazine). Shannon Elizabeth also received a mention, but for her "American Pie 2" role.
May 25, 2001
Issue #597
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The trailer has appeared at a website called Moviepoopshot.com, which is a clever site that's basically going to play directly into the Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back film itself (you'll see, or the astute of you might even figure it out). Looks like there's some very creative web marketing that's going to tie into all the other promotional stuff going on as well (the site promotes an upcoming "Blutman & Chronic" feature. At this point, we're not sure if this site will continue to receive updates, though we think it'd be a great touch.
In the meantime, we've provided a LOCAL MIRROR of the trailer here for your viewing pleasure. Kev's post regarding the site, by the way, is as follows:
I just found this new website, moviepoopshoot.com, and while they don't seem to be very old, even THESE motherfuckers are jumping all over my dick.
Go read it and see what I mean.
Go on.
Read it.
Every little bit of it.
Closely.
Especially the fucking "shooting gallery" numb-nuts' opinions.
I'll wait...
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I've had it up to here, and I'm going to honestly set the record straight on how I REALLY feel about ABC, Miramax, the Catholic League, Marvel Comics, DC Comics, Entertainment Weekly, Ain't It Cool News, Wizard Magazine, Alex Ross, Peter David, Warren Ellis, the movie industry, and anyone else who's managed to piss me off over the course of the last year or so.
The other shoe is about to drop.
Axes are going to fall.
No one is safe.
Because I'm going to finally... FINALLY... give some motherfuckers in cyberworld the bitch-slapping they've been begging for for months.
Spread the word. Tell your friends. Tonight, the gloves come off, and it's no more Mister Nice-Guy. Watch career suicide as it happens!
I'm in a bridge-burning mood, folks. Grab your marshmallows.
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Summer Fling: Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (August 24)
Claim to Fame: When writer-director Kevin Smith needed a slacker sidekick for his Silent Bob character in his no-budget Clerks (1994), he turned to real-life pal Mewes. Though the Jersey native had never acted before, he seemed to inherently understand the motivation of his character: Toke up a "fatty boom batty blunt," and dispense potty-mouthed, dude-speak bon mots like, "What's up, sluts?"
Mewes, who turns 27 in June, has become Smith's good-luck charm, appearing alongside him as Jay (aka, Jay Phat Buds) in Mallrats (1995), Chasing Amy (1997) and Dogma (1999).
Big-Screen Break: A sideshow no more, Mewes' character is front and center in Smith's latest, which finds the titular Jersey boys out for revenge after they learn that Banky (Chasing Amy's Jason Lee) has sold them out. See, Banky's Bluntman and Chronic, a comic book based on Jay and Silent Bob, is being turned into a movie starring-spoilers ahead!-James Van Der Beek and Jason Biggs. Someone must pay!
Career Prognosis: Smokin'. Mewes has had trouble breaking into the mainstream, but with Jay and Silent Bob (featuring such Smith alums as Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Chris Rock and Shannen Doherty), his time may have finally come. Can it be long before his "snootch to the nootch" catchphrase (English translation: "just kidding") sweeps the nation?
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Dimension chief Bob Weinstein called to say he's moving 'Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back' off the August 10th release date. Our new release date is August 24th, two weeks later.
The reason for the move has more to do with the 'Rush Hour 2' juggernaut than the 'American Pie 2' juggernaut. 'RH2' opens August 3rd, and it's going to be huge. If it opened to, say, forty million that weekend, even if it dropped by 50% percent the following weekend, that's a potential 20 mill we'd be competing for (and losing, no doubt). Add to that the fact that 'AP2' opens the 10th, along with 'Osmosis Jones' (and to a lesser degree, the new Woody Allen flick), and Bob surmised it's just plain stupid to jump in the pool that soon, when by waiting two weeks, we stand a better chance of doing some strong business.
Disappointing? Hardly. I trust Bob. This is the guy who did the then-unthinkable and put 'Scream' out on Christmas day. This is the guy who moved the 'Scarey Movie' release at least twice before it opened last year. The man knows what he's doing.
All it means for you guys is you'll have an additional two week wait for the flick. What it means for us is a slightly looser post schedule, which we can really use at this point. The test screening was scheduled for May 17th, but now we can do it two weeks later instead. And in a world where we jumped from thirty digital effects shots to over two hundred during the course of production, this'll give the multiple effects houses doing the shots a bit more time to nail them all in time for the test screening, as well as give our composer, Jim Venable (the genius behind the score of 'The Powerpuff Girls' score, as well as the 'Clerks' Cartoon) some more time to lock in most of his original score for said test screening, so we're not forced to use a temp score.
All in all, this is a good thing. The only aspect of it that bugs me is that we were on that date before any of the other flicks got scheduled in there. And when push came to shove, WE wound up moving.
But, hey - if it means some folks won't have to choose between 'J&SB' and four other flicks on opening day, I'm kosher with the move.
In other news, I've checked out half of the aforementioned effects shots. All I can say is... Wow. Kudos to Joe Grossberg and the many artisans crafting these images that look like they don't belong anywhere near a View Askew Production.
But then, come August 24th, the audience's perception of what a View Askew Production looks like is going to be blown out of the water.
