10 Movie Franchises That Died In 2022
9. Kevin Smith's View Askewniverse
Kevin Smith's View Askewniverse is a fascinating creation - Smith's comedy empire centered around loveable stoners Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Smith himself), dating all the way back to Clerks in 1994.
Clerks' surprise success allowed Smith to build his own unlikely franchise, consisting of Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Clerks II, and Jay and Silent Bob Reboot.
It's fair to say that enthusiasm for Smith's scrappy IP has been waning in recent times, with the director struggling to get his newer films conventionally funded, and spending literally years trying to produce sequels to Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Clerks II, and Mallrats.
And after over 15 years of fighting to get it made, to everyone's surprise Smith did indeed release Clerks III this past year - a final farewell to the characters of Dante (Brian O'Halloran) and Randal (Jeff Anderson), and really the entire View Askewniverse as a whole.
Anyone who's seen the sequel will appreciate that the film's surprisingly dark, morbid direction felt like Smith categorically closing the lid on the cinematic world he created almost 30 years ago.
Though Smith's made it clear he'd still love to produce a sequel to Mallrats, Clerks III felt like Smith making peace with the fact it's never going to happen, and basically wrapping the whole shebang up for better or worse.