The Clerks return with a viral promotion via MySpace.

LEAVE it to independent film impresario Harvey Weinstein to make a quirky marketing splash on the Internet.

Last week, Weinstein set up Kevin Smith's "Clerks II" for a promotion through MySpace.com whereby he solicited as many as 10,000 MySpace.com users. "Clerks II," a sequel to the 1994 Sundance Film Festival hit "Clerks," is set for release on July 21.

Weinstein's company offered a chance to be listed in the film's credits or, as the site proclaimed, "to see your name in lights," for those who added "Mooby's Presents: Clerks II" Web page to their friends lists. "Mooby" is a reference to one of the film's characters.

The idea, according to the Weinstein Co., was to convince 10,000 MySpace.com users to foster and promote the film on their individual "spaces." And if those 10,000 were to reach out to 8 to 10 or hundreds of others, then ... well, you get the idea.

"We couldn't think of a better way to get Kevin's longstanding fan base excited about this sequel," Weinstein said.

The fan response was humungous. In less than three hours the site was filled.

So Weinstein and company decided to extend the sign-up period to handle any and all comers, and said that instead of listing them in the film credits, they put their names on the end of the DVD release. That still leaves a problem, though. Listing 10,000 names at the end of a movie--no matter how miniscule the type--could take hours. A Weinstein company spokesman admitted that they hadn't worked out "the details" on fitting all the names in. If the responses keep coming in, the DVD release may have to be a boxed set.