Kevin Smith Announces New Comedy ‘The 4:30 Movie’

(L to R) Reed Northrup, Nicholas Cirillo and Austin Zajur in director Kevin Smith’s ‘The 4:30 Movie’. Photo: Saban Films.

Preview:

Kevin Smith has shot new comedy ‘The 4:30 Movie’.
A new coming-of-age saga about three teen friends, it’s set in 1986.
Smith will tour the movie this summer ahead of a theatrical release.

Kevin Smith has made a career riffing on pop culture and channeling nostalgia, along with a steady stream of stoner gags.

With his time in the ‘Clerks’ universe apparently over for a while, Kevin Smith has turned his attention to an original movie. His latest, ‘The 4:30 Movie’, might sound like it’s headed back in a weed direction (but it’s not ‘The 4:20 Movie), but is instead founded upon his own teenage love of cinema.

And now the coming-of-age movie has a distribution deal, with Saban Films.

What’s the story of ‘The 4:30 Movie’?

Set in the summer of 1986, the coming-of-age comedy follows three sixteen-year-old friends (played by Austin Zajur, Nicholas Cirillo and Reed Northrup) who spend their Saturdays sneaking into movies at the local multiplex. But when one of the guys also invites the girl of his dreams (Siena Agudong) to see the latest comedy, each of the teens will learn something serious about life and love before the credits roll.

Who else is in ‘The 4:30 Movie’?

Justin Long as Hap Jackson in the thriller, ‘House of Darkness,’ a Saban Films release. Photo courtesy of Saban Films.

To support the young leads, Smith has recruited several returning veterans of his other movies and some new faces. The other cast includes Ken Jeong, Sam Richardson, Genesis Rodriguez, Justin Long, Jason Lee, Rachel Dratch, Kate Micucci, Adam Pally, Harley Quinn Smith and Method Man.

What has Kevin Smith said about his new movie?

‘Clerks III’ director and writer Kevin Smith.

As with the original ‘Clerks’, which was famously shot at night in the convenience store where Smith worked in his 20s, ‘The 4:30 Movie’ utilized the Smodcastle Cinema that the director owns. A cinema, in fact, in New Jersey where he used to visit as a teenager himself.

This is what he told Deadline:

“The day we bought Smodcastle Cinemas, I not only reclaimed an integral piece of my childhood, I also suddenly had access to a visually interesting and cost-free movie location! So I started writing a personal paean to the past for us 70’s and 80’s kids –– the pre-information generation who grew up without the Internet, when romance and relationships required much more than a swipe to get started, and the idea of asking out someone you had a crush on was as terrifying as the looming threat of nuclear war.”

When will ‘The 4:30 Movie’ be in theaters?

Smith is returning to a release policy that has worked for him in the past –– he’s taking the new movie out on a roadshow tour this summer. Then, it’ll be released nationwide in theaters, but a date has yet to be announced.