To paraphrase Cardinal Glick in Dogma, Harvey Weinstein does not make mistakes–all right, mistakes were made. Kevin Smith has brought to light another power move pulled by the shamed former Hollywood producer, saying he is now holding Dogma “hostage” from having any major future.
Kevin Smith claims that Harvey Weinstein called him apparently at random a few years about a potential Dogma sequel. One week later, the rape and sexual abuse allegations against Weinstein came out. Smith believes Weinstein was calling numerous “Miramax family” members to feel out if they had spoken to The New York Times prior to the story breaking.
Kevin Smith’s Dogma, which tells of two fallen angels (Matt Damon and Ben Affleck) trying to take advantage of a loophole to get back in heaven, was always a tough sell for Miramax and Lionsgate. Now, it’s a tough purchase. Smith claims he tried to buy it around that time but was rebuked, believing Weinstein wanted $5 million that he knew Smith wouldn’t pony up. Sounds like a GoFundMe opportunity to us!
As Smith put it, “He’s holding it hostage. My movie about angels is owned by the devil himself…My movie about heaven is in limbo.”
Kevin Smith further suggested that the rights to Dogma moved to a new company, although that’s just as mysterious as it sounds.
“What sucks is that he’s also sitting his fat ass on my movie. And the right thing to do would have been to sell it back to me even if you didn’t want to sell for the price that I first said…Tell us what that price is and sell me my self-expression back.”
Despite its plot and controversy around the time of release, Dogma would go on to make three times its budget back at the box office. It wasn’t in the top 20 of all time–Serendipity isn’t that powerful–but the numbers for Dogma marked a notable moment in Kevin Smith’s career.
Now, who knows if we’ll ever see Dogma on a streaming service again or if it will get a better home video release; its last Blu-ray came out back in 2008. There, too, probably will never be a sequel, unlike with Mallrats.
In the meantime, you can catch Kevin Smith’s latest, Clerks III, in theaters. Check out review below!