Kevin Smith Comedy ‘The 4:30 Movie’ Acquired By Saban Films

EXCLUSIVE: Saban Films has acquired worldwide rights to The 4:30 Movie, the latest film written and directed by Kevin Smith (Clerks). The film marks the second collaboration for Saban and Smith, on the heels of 2019’s Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, which scored one of the top-per theatre average openings of the year amongst titles like Parasite and Avengers: Endgame.

Set in the summer of 1986, the coming-of-age comedy follows three sixteen-year-old friends (played by Austin Zajur, Nicholas Cirillo and Reed Northrup) who spend their Saturdays sneaking into movies at the local multiplex. But when one of the guys also invites the girl of his dreams (Siena Agudong) to see the latest comedy, each of the teens will learn something serious about life and love before the credits roll.

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The 4:30 Movie also stars Ken Jeong (The Hangover), Sam Richardson (Veep), Genesis Rodriguez (Tusk), Justin Long (Barbarian), Jason Lee (Almost Famous), Rachel Dratch (I Love My Dad), Kate Micucci (The Big Bang Theory), Adam Pally (Sonic the Hedgehog), Harley Quinn Smith (Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood), and Method Man (Power Book II: Ghost).

Smith shot the film at his Smodcastle Cinemas in New Jersey — the same movie theater he haunted every weekend when he was a teenager, which he now co-owns. Liz Destro, Josh Bachove and Jordan Monsanto produced alongside EPs Bill Bromiley, Shanan Becker and Jonathan Saba. Smith is set to embark on a multi-city national tour with the movie this summer, with its rollout in theaters nationwide to follow.

“The day we bought Smodcastle Cinemas, I not only reclaimed an integral piece of my childhood, I also suddenly had access to a visually interesting and cost-free movie location!” Smith told Deadline of the genesis of his latest film. “So I started writing a personal paean to the past for us 70’s and 80’s kids – the pre-information generation who grew up without the Internet, when romance and relationships required much more than a swipe to get started, and the idea of asking out someone you had a crush on was as terrifying as the looming threat of nuclear war.”

Added Jonathan Saba, Chief Content Officer of Saban Films, “Kevin has been one of the defining voices in American Independent Cinema for 30 years now, and The 4:30 Movie is like a Valentine to moviegoers from a lifelong film fan that also acts as his most personal production yet. This is our second of hopefully many movies together.”

Other recent acquisitions for Saban Films include Michael Keaton’s hitman thriller Knox Goes Away, thriller Butcher’s Crossing starring Nicolas Cage, action thriller Cult Killer starring Antonio Banderas and Alice Eve, Scandinavian thriller Good Boy, Darkness of Man starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Stephen Lang and Harvey Keitel’s action thriller Hellfire.

Saba negotiated the deal for The 4:30 Movie on behalf of Saban Films, with Destro repping the filmmakers.

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