Kevin Smith To Buy Monmouth Movie Theater, Open Film School: Report

ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS, NJ - Kevin Smith already touts a production company, a podcast theater and over a dozen movies under his belt. His next endeavor? A Monmouth County cinema.

The 52-year-old film director of “Clerks” and “Chasing Amy” fame is on tap to purchase the Atlantic Moviehouse in Atlantic Highlands, according to a NJ.com report.

Set to be redubbed SModcastle Cinemas, the theater will be acquired by Smith by Sept. 14, as well as an apartment above the five-screen multiplex.

“This certainly isn’t about an investment deal,” Smith told NJ.com. “This is about owning a little piece of my personal movie history, a building that helped forge the filmmaker that I would become.”

SModcastle Cinemas follows in the footsteps of Smith’s other brands, from the SModcast podcast that launched in 2007 to the SModcast Pictures production company and the SModcastle podcast theater in Leonardo. The latter is located in the same building that Smith’s 1994 hit “Clerks” was filmed in, at a Quick Stop Groceries store.

The same store can be seen in Smith’s newest film, “Clerks III,” set to debut in September.

Per NJ.com, Smith has big plans for the theater: alongside screenings, he is already planning to schedule live shows and script readings and a film school.

Under Jay and Silent Bob’s View Askewniversity - a play on the name of the director’s extended film universe - Smith will be teaching people how to make a Smith-style movie, which may begin in the form of a summer camp in 2023.

“I know how to bring something to the table more than just being like, ‘Hey, I own a movie theater. Isn’t that fun?’” Smith told the publication. “I think I can make it a thriving business as well, bringing to bear everything that I’ve got experience with over the course of the last three decades … I’m probably going to be in town a lot more now because of it.”