1) The Full Monty– Global BO 205.4, Budget 3.5, Revenue Ratio 58.7
2) CHASING AMY– BO 14.7, Budget 0.4, RR 36.7
3) When the Cat’s Away– BO 7.6, Budget 0.3, RR 25.3
4) In the Company of Men– BO 4.2, Budget 0.2, RR 21.0

Available for limited time only, the Jay and Silent Bob/Gay and Silent Bob Numbered Lithograph. This beautiful lithograph features two 8 x 10 black and white photo’s of Jay and Silent Bob and er… Gay and Silent Bob side by side and bordered by a white matte. Final dimensions – 19 x 13 inches. Each lithograph is numbered. $50.00 + shipping Detailed image here (Jay and Silent Bob – 118K GIF) Detailed image here (Gay and Silent Bob – 109K GIF)

The world of the Quick Stop and RST Video is expanded! See your behind-the-counter heros Dante and Randal in their first adventure since Clerks the movie. This 32 page comic is written by Kevin Smith and illustrated by Jim Mahfood and put out by Oni Press, the same good folks who released the Oni Double Feature. Also featured are favorites Jay and Silent Bob, Steve-Dave and Walt the Fanboy. Get this first printing before they run out! $10.00 each – first printing. See the full size cover here (110 K). Buy the first printing Oni Double Feature and first printing Clerks comic for $17.00!

OnlineHost: It is MARVEL ONLINE’s distinct
OnlineHost: pleasure to welcome comic industry
OnlineHost: stars JOE QUESADA & JIMMY
OnlineHost: PALMIOTTI! Due to circumstances
OnlineHost: beyond anyone’s control, KEVIN
OnlineHost: SMITH cannot appear in the chat
OnlineHost: tonight. He got caught on the set
OnlineHost: of his new film, DOGMA. We
OnlineHost: apologize for any inconvenience.
OnlineHost: .=msgPlease enjoy chatting with Joe &
OnlineHost: Jimmy — they’ll have all the answers
OnlineHost: to your questions.

So I’ve gotten to all these posts (and read the posts from when I was away). I’ve heard and appreciated your thoughts on the Mtv special, the comic, and everything generally Askew. Many thanks – for both the praise and the flames.It all gets put to use, in one fashion or another.

Just got got from LA. It was a productive trip. The Golden Apple signing was a blast, and very successful (Apple owner Bill Liebowitz said they hadn’t had a signing with that large a turn-out in quite a few years – back to the early days of Image Comics). To those of you from the board who showed up, thanks for coming.

But thanks chiefly to the cat who gave me the statue. The guy (who took off without giving me his stats) crafted a one-of-a-kind gem: the Genie from ‘Aladdin’, as if he dressed like Silent Bob. It’s cherished already, and sitting on my Pittsburgh office desk.

Saw many folks out in LA-LA, not the least of which was one of my ten favorite people on the planet: you, you, you oughta know.

Malcolm was out there casting ‘Taillights Fade’, and I’ve gotta say – they were seeing a fairly heady calibre of talent. We thought we saw young Hollywood for the ‘Rats’ auditions? Malcolm’s audition sign-in sheets read like a who’s-who of the up-and-comers (and some who’ve already arrived). I’ll let him share when he returns.

As you might’ve noticed down below, I interviewed with the lovely Jennifer Schwalback for USA Today, for a piece that’ll either run this week or next, I’d imagine.

Also did a piece on ‘E’ for the Oni stuff.

But most importantly – I rehearsed with some of the cast.

Both Rock and Salma came over and spent some time going over the script. Mind you – this was the first time I’ve heard any of this dialogue read aloud by anyone other than me.

It was beyond thrilling.

Both of them are working extremely hard on the mouthfuls of dialogue they’ve gotta be able to spit out like it’s no biggie, and both are doing this local youth-made-good proud.

I can’t wait for ya’ll to hear them.

Our D.P.’s been hired. His name’s Bob Yeoman, and he seems like a good enough cat. You might’ve seen his work in ‘Drugstore Cowboy’ and ‘Bottle Rocket’, not to mention sundry other flicks. We’ve gone over the flick, and whether or not to shoot anamorphically or just plain ol’ Super 35. I think we’re leaning toward the latter.

Gary, our stunt coordinater, also signed on, as did Jim, our First A.D. Gary’s done so many shows, his resume reads like a filmography of the 20th century (he was the guy who did the actual swing with the Princess in ‘Star Wars’). Jim’s AD’ed on everything from ‘Dazed’ to ‘Fargo’, and has already come up with some good suggestions.

I caught ‘The Wedding Singer’ out there as well. Man, is Drew Barrymore not good. Enjoyed the film enough – sort of as much as I enjoyed ‘Romy and Michelle’ (the flicks’re more about moments than the whole).

Finally got to see the ‘South Park’ Christmas episode while I was there (“HOOOOOOWDY-HO!!!”) – quite funny, that.

All in all, it was a good trip, Charlie Brown.

Mosier continues to steam-roll through the storyboards (which maybe we’ll post, mid-way through production), and man are they looking gorgeous.

Now for some Oni News: spurred by the swift sales of the ‘Clerks’ comic, the Oni Double Feature #1 has completely SOLD OUT. That means we’re going back to press, folks – A SECOND PRINTING!!!

It may not mean much to the comics-inclined, but it’s a big deal to me.

We expect to go back to press on the ‘Clerks’ book in the next two weeks as well.

So we’ve changed up the pricing on the signed copies.

Oni Double Feature #1 first print are jumping to ten bucks. The second print (which says “Second Printing – Naga Nooch.”) will remain at five bucks. The ‘Clerks’ book is going to be ten bucks for first printings too. If you order both first prints, it’ll be $17.00 (including postage and handling).

I’ve seen some of Duncan Fregredo’s (sp?) early sketches for the Jay and Bob series, and man are you Mahfood-bashers going to be ecstatic about it.

On that subject, I love what Jim did with the art for ‘Clerks’. And when you consider my dense script left him unable to utilize as much of the panel as possible oftentimes, you appreciate him even more.

I gotta say, we practically owned last week. from Mtv to Golden Apple, it was a week Askew.

Thanks for making it all possible.

Rising Star: Jason Lee

By CAROL DEEGAN

In “Kissing A Fool,” the new film directed by Doug Ellin, Jason Lee portraysan aspiring writer who’s trying to get over a failed relationship.

Lee, who appeared in the highly acclaimed Kevin Smith film, “Chasing Amy,”sees his “Fool”-ish character as a guy who spends too much time missing hisex-girlfriend. Way too much time.

“I’ve had a heartbreak like that before, sure,” said Lee, 27, in a telephoneinterview from his home in Los Angeles. “But I didn’t dwell on it for as longas he does and eventually make it into a book. But there’s similarities there,for sure.”

Filmed in Chicago, “Kissing A Fool” begins and ends with a wedding scene.But who’s getting married? Jay, played by Lee, or his best friend, Max? Bothfind themselves attracted to Jay’s book editor, Sam, played by Mili Avital.

The film is a light romantic comedy.

“There’s a lot of very interesting circumstances in the movie and there’sbelievable circumstances, and the characters are identifiable and relatable towhat people go through, so there’s humor along the way,” Lee said. “But atthe end, things sort of resolve themselves just like they do in life, I guess.So there’s some good stuff for everyone.”

Max is portrayed by David Schwimmer, one of NBC’s “Friends”. Although Max isengaged to Sam, he finds himself wondering if she is really “the one.” So heasks Jay to put Sam’s faithfulness to the test. (Talk about romanticentanglements!)

So, who’s the fool in “Kissing A Fool”?

“At some point, I guess, all three of them,” Lee said. “And they sort ofhave to go through their own things to get to a good place, which is reallywhat happens in life anyway.”

What drew Lee to the film?

“The script, first of all, and then also the experience of working with anentirely new group of people, which was to me a challenge because I had donetwo feature films with Kevin Smith. And this was to be my first feature filmoutside of working with Kevin, and I sort of had to take everything I hadlearned working with him and apply it to a whole new situation,” he said.

“Everybody kept it light, it wasn’t a very heavy, heavy thing, there was alot of goofing off, and everyone pretty much shared the same sense of humor,which is good, so we all got along well,” Lee said.

The cast also includes “Jerry Maguire’s” Bonnie Hunt and Vanessa Angel asNatasha, the woman Jay can’t seem to forget.

Lee said he enjoyed working with Schwimmer. “It was definitely easy becausehe’s a good actor and takes it very seriously, and he played this charactervery well. But he definitely got mobbed everywhere we went.”

Would Lee like to be someone who gets mobbed everywhere he goes?

“Fortunately, the recognition I’ve gotten has been for the work I did in’Chasing Amy,’ and people always compliment the movie and how much they likedit, and it’s a very kind of sincere recognition, which is the best kind ofrecognition, I think.”

His upcoming projects include a new Kevin Smith film, “Dogma,” set to startfilming in April, which will also star Linda Fiorentino, Chris Rock, Salma Hayek, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.

“Can’t make a Kevin Smith film without me, I’d like to hope,” said Lee witha laugh.