Kevin Smith Bought His Childhood Theater So He Could Shoot a Movie There — and Says Running It Is the ‘Toughest Job I’ll Ever Love’

How does Kevin Smith feel about receiving his best reviews in years for “ The 4:30 Movie ,” a film that he shot at his childhood movie theater after purchasing it in 2021? “The lesson is never make a movie until you have the location first,” Smith said with a laugh during a recent conversation with IndieWire. “Because, in the case of ‘Clerks,’ there was a location and then the story grew from that . And with ‘The 4:30 Movie,’ it’s like I had a location and the story grew from that.

.. I can’t fuck up those movies, I guess is what it comes down to.

” Smith grew up attending movies at the Atlantic Twin Cinemas in Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey, which was later rebranded as the Atlantic Movie House. And like many independent theaters in America, the venue was already struggling before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. But 2020 proved to be a crippling blow that threatened to bankrupt the theater where Smith forged his love affair with movies.

Rather than let that happen, New Jersey’s most famous cinephile and some of his deep-pocketed friends teamed up to purchase and renovate the theater, reopening it under his own Smodcastle Cinemas branding in 2022. Smith’s motives were primarily altruistic..

. but he was already thinking about using it as a filming location when he pulled the trigger on the deal. “I’m no dummy, we’d just come out of Covid.

I knew that film exhibition was not as strong as it was. But this was our movie theater, man. This is a movie the.