Whatever happened to the Kevin Smith Clerks 2 commentary download?

August 27, 2006 2:49 PM

A few months ago, there was news that Kevin Smith would release a director's commentary early, so fans of Clerks 2 could rewatch the movie in a theater with an iPod. Clerks 2 has come and gone from my local theater but I'm still wondering if this audio ever came out, because I'd love to hear it and watch the movie again (have to catch it at the $1 theater now). Anyone ever heard what became of this? I don't see any mentions of it online
posted by mathowie to Media & Arts (7 answers total)

Best answer: From here:

Turns out that exhibitors (folks that own the theaters) weren't too keen on the idea of people showing up to the movies with iPods. They felt it was going to be too distracting (or something) for other people in the theater who weren't wearing iPods for the show - like the commentary-listeners would be laughing when nobody else was laughing, and that'd create some kind of problem. Based on that, they suggested that if Weinstein Co. went through with the commentary track promotion, they'd start pulling the flick from screens. So the commentary track promotion has been tabled until we're at a very low theater count

posted by smackfu at 2:54 PM on August 27, 2006 [1 favorite]

That's crazy. Sounds like they just got rid of a whole lot of repeat customers who would see the film, then buy another ticket and see the film with commentary.
posted by tomble at 3:11 PM on August 27, 2006

And people laughing at different parts would spread the word about the commentary track, and sell even more tickets to second showings. I swear, Hollywood is so freaking technophobic.
posted by TochterAusElysium at 3:44 PM on August 27, 2006

I'm not technophobic at all, and I think their point of view is somewhat valid, in that it would be kind of annoying to have someone guffawing behind you and causing you miss dialogue or something otherwise important.
posted by wuzandfuzz at 6:31 PM on August 27, 2006

Yeah sounds pretty silly to me. I applaud new and fresh uses of technology and man these theater owners just don't get it.
posted by mmascolino at 8:49 PM on August 27, 2006

It's about power and fear. Theater owners are used to controlling customers within their channel, and they're afraid of anything that threatens that control, even if it's something that is likely to bring them more customers. (I've worked in other bricks-and-mortar industries that feared Internet-enabled extensions to their customers' experiences.)
posted by lbergstr at 11:13 PM on August 27, 2006

jesus christ that's fucking insane, thanks smackfu for the update
posted by matteo at 6:30 AM on August 28, 2006