It seems Kevin Smith has pulled another fast one on Hollywood in his one man bid to upset the apple cart that is the studio system – so once again I ask the question… is  he a brat or a genius?

Having already sidestepped traditional movie marketing channels to release the teaser poster and trailer of his upcoming horror movie, Red State, Silent Bob spoke to the crowd of the Sundance Film Festival following the film’s premiere about his plans for how it would be distributed.

The traditional post-screening auction for the rights to the flick was ended abruptly when Red State producer Jonathon Gordon declared Smith himself (with a bid of $20) the winner. The director then took to the stage to launch into a 30-minute speech about his unorthodox plans for his ‘acquisition’ that included a 15-date US tour from March 5^th that takes in cities including New York, Boston, Indianapolis and Kansas City.

Further to this, Red State will hit domestic venues on October 19^th, albeit with the help of a word of mouth campaign – rather than the traditional multi-million dollar online, display and broadcast model – and, he hopes, some help from theatres keen to screen the film. No details have been announced yet as to when this means the rest of the world will get to see it, but, as some have speculated, the demand for bootleg copies is likely to make keeping the pirates at bay (get it? pirates? bay?) a job in itself.

I’ve been more than vocal about Kevin Smith in the past and how his approach to film marketing is something that is as risky as it is innovative. But my concerns are that, while his recent actions (blocking people with negative opinions on Twitter, screening his trailer exclusively to his most die-hard fans) have allowed him to rise to the status of Emperor of his own online world, he could find himself with no clothes a lot sooner than he thinks.

“Why does it cost five times the amount to make a movie just to open a movie?” – Kevin Smith.

Well, there is a reason. It may seem out-dated in a world where so much power is in the hands of the general public, but I don’t believe Warner Bros, Disney, Sony, or whoever, throw their millions around as thoughtlessly as this comment seems to suggest. A great deal of research, planning, design, implementation goes into the launch and distribution of a major motion picture, which is why we see astronomical sums of cash thrown at blockbusters likes of Tron: Legacy, Avatar and, to a lesser extent, awards-friendly fare like The King’s Speech or Black Swan. A horror movie, on the other hand, needn’t cost very much at all, particularly with a big name director attached. This is something I’m sure Kevin is well aware of and is, in fact, counting on – and it could be the reason that in the next 12 months he’ll either be celebrated for his regal attire, or left cold and naked on the steps of Harvey Weinstein’s house.

As much as I admire the man’s apparent desire to create a new marketing model that cuts out the studio bigwigs in favour of films made by the people, for the people, at this point I find his pitch a little hard to swallow. By comparing making an independent movie and selling it on to a distributor to giving birth to a child and asking someone else to raise it, Smith may successfully convince some that he is ‘one of us’ again. But, frankly, when he jokingly refers to his last movie in the same breath as a “piece of shit”, I’m not sure he’d be someone I’d trust with an underperforming child.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I like Kevin Smith. I like all but one of his movies (I haven’t seen Jersey Girl) and I can’t wait to see his take on a genre I hold so dearly. I also hope he is able to create a new film making and movie marketing model that invests in the future of Hollywood – cause god knows they can’t seem to do it themselves. However, I have yet to fully come back around to the way this man says and does things.

In years to come, Kevin Smith might well be hailed as a genius who reinvented the way movies are launched upon the public, or he might just as easily be reviled as a contrary brat who ran dry of creativity some time ago. But it is the way he walks this thin line that makes most of us, me included, continue to watch very carefully what he will do or say next.