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Apocalyptic comedy DOGMA is finally coming out of the vault [1]

['Thom Dunn']

Date: 2024-10-16

Twenty five years ago, filmmaker Kevin Smith released Dogma. The fourth film in the loosely-connected Jersey saga that began with his indie hit Clerks, Dogma took a huge swing, trading suburban sex jokes for a sprawling cross-country battle between Heaven and Hell. The story follows two fallen angels—played by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck—attempting to exploit a loophole that would allow them to get back into Heaven, with help from a demon played by Jason Lee who secretly hopes to usher in the apocalypse. The only person who can stop them is the forgotten Thirteenth Apostle played by Chris Rock (who was left out of the Gospels because he was Black), and an abortion clinic worker played by Linda Fiorentino who may be the last descendent of Christ himself.

The film also features George Carlin, Alanis Morisette, Salma Hayek, and Alan Rickman. It's wild.

At least, that's how I remember it. Dogma absolutely blew my 14-year-old-recovering-Catholic mind. But I haven't seen it in ages. Because after the initial DVD release, the movie just sort of…disappeared. Surprisingly, its absence has nothing to do with the controversy that it courted upon its release (what with God being a woman, Jesus having a descendant who works at an abortion clinic, and so on). As it turned out, the rights to the film were personally owned by Bob and Harvey Weinstein, and even before the whole onslaught of revelations about their horrible behaviors, the brothers had no apparent interest in releasing the movie in any other format, including streaming. Harvey considered selling the rights at some point after he went to prison, according to Hollywood Ending: Harvey Weinstein and the Culture of Silence, because he was getting desperate for money. But even that still took a while to sort out.

Dogma is personally owned by Bob & Harvey Weinstein, who bought the film from Disney in 1999 and licensed it to Lions Gate (for theatrical) and then Sony (for home video). But those deals pre-dated streaming and have lapsed. Bummer, as 2019 is the 20th anniversary of our release. https://t.co/4RyhSDoSka — KevinSmith (@ThatKevinSmith) August 30, 2019

But in a recent interview on That Hashtag Show to promote his newest film, The 4:30 Movie, Smith revealed that he has finally, finally re-secured the rights to Dogma. While it's too late to celebrate the film's 25th anniversary, Smith said he was hoping to put together a limited theatrical tour next year, followed by a home video release of some kind.

I, for one, am looking forward to seeing if the movie still holds up at all.

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[1] Url: https://boingboing.net/2024/10/16/apocalyptic-comedy-dogma-is-finally-coming-out-of-the-vault.html

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