Comedy has had a hard time getting its due in the last few years. Of the many films that are still opening in theaters, only a marginal percentage of them are comedies – be it bold, original comedies, or new installments of well-established comedic franchises. In fact, it’s somewhat shocking to look at some of the biggest comedy films of the 21st century and realize that either they haven’t gotten any new installments in years (or decades), or the comedic troupe that made them hasn’t gotten any new work.

As films like The Naked Gun (2025) try to open the lane back up for big comedy films, it seems like the genre could see a resurgence. That’s probably why we’re getting the timely update that one of the biggest cult-classic comedy movie franchises is possibly going to get a threequel, 7 years later.

Filmmaker Kevin Smith got himself on the map with his 1994 indie comedy Clerks. The film followed a couple of Gen X slackers running a dinky convenience store in New Jersey; two of the most frequent shoppers in the place were Jay and Silent Bob (Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith, respectively), two local drug dealers who hustle behind the store. Jay and Silent Bob were such funny and irreverent breakout characters that they quickly became the recurring staple of Kevin Smith’s films (aka, the “View Askewniverse”). They have appeared in Clerks, Clerks II, Clerks III, Mallrats, Dogma, Chasing Amy, and even crossover appearances in Scream 3 and the Arrowverse’s Flash TV series. Smith also gave the characters their own spinoff film franchise, which started with Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001) and continued with Jay and Silent Bob Reboot (2019).

Jay and Silent Bob: Store Wars Is A Grand Stoner Comedy

Jay and Silent Bob Reboot / Saban Films

Kevin Smith is now confirming that the threequel, Jay and Silent Bob: Store Wars, is happening. Smith confirmed it while talking with Collider, saying, “Believe it or not, man, we still find financing for Jay and Silent Bob pictures, so we’re making a movie called Jay and Silent Bob: Store Wars.”

The title of the film already indicates a lot. Jay and Silent Bob have been dynamic characters with a big arc in Smith’s films. They’ve also often served as symbolic or metaphorical figures, reflecting changing times in the world, or phases in the director’s life, most often illustrated by “Silent” Bob’s standalone moments giving sage-like monologues. Clerks III (2022) was Smith’s unabashed rumination on his own near-death experience and new reality as a middle-aged man, but it also had a funny subplot joke about Jay and Silent Bob’s place in the changing world.

“For those who recall and still follow this closely, in Clerks III, they now run their own dispensary, since weed is legal in New Jersey,” Smith explains. “Store Wars is basically Spy vs. Spy. Another dispensary opens up across the street, and they spend the whole movie fighting and trying to destroy one another. So, it’s a stoner comedy, man, of the highest order, and I’m happy as hell.”

The filml is also in keeping with the franchise’s trend of aping the Star Wars movies. In fact “Store Wars” is probably the greatests pun to land in Smith’s lap when it comes to honoring the film series that helped inspire him – and already feels like an timely concept and title that could sell as something bigger than an inide. The first film in the series went for bigger budget ($22 million) and got modest returns ($33.8 million); the sequel was lower budget indie ($10 million) that only got a two-night theatrical release, and still generated modest returns ($4.7 million). Perhaps the third film can split the difference and go for something down the middle…

Jay and Silent Bob: Store Wars is in development. Come chat with us about it and so many other films over on the ComicBook Forum!

“For those who recall and still follow this closely, in “Clerks III“, they now run their own dispensary, since weed is legal in New Jersey. Store Wars is basically Spy vs. Spy. Another dispensary opens up across the street, and they spend the whole movie fighting and trying to destroy one another. So, it’s a stoner comedy, man, of the highest order, and I’m happy as hell.”