Kevin Smith says Dogma's streaming rights are being 'held hostage' by Harvey Weinstein, who has turned down multiple offers from the filmmaker. 'My movie about angels is owned by the devil himself.'
As audiences eagerly await the return of the View Askewniverse, Kevin Smith opens up about why Dogma's streaming rights are being held hostage. The 1999 fantasy comedy starred Linda Fiorentino as an abortion clinic counselor who learns she is the last blood relative of Jesus Christ and tasked with stopping two fallen angels from using a loophole to enter Heaven, and subsequently undo all creation.
SCREENRANT VIDEO OF THE DAY Dogma became the subject of much controversy at the time of its release, with many religious groups slamming it for is perceived blasphemous content, but nonetheless received moderately positive reviews from critics and was a box office success, grossing over $44 million against its $10 million production budget.
I found out that he was trying to sell the rights to the movie. [He was asking for $5 million, which was] overvaluing the movie. [To Smith's lawyers] Please tell that company that I’ll have nothing to do with it, if he’s still attached to it. I’ll work on a ‘Dogma’ anything, as long as he has no more ties to it. [We reached out to buy the rights ourselves] which we felt very dirty about because we didn’t want to give him money.
Smith has previously indicated that Dogma's lack of a streaming release or updated Blu-ray/DVD edition was due to the Weinsteins' involvement with the film, as they had purchased the rights to the film to distribute through Miramax. Interestingly, this is the first major update Smith has given on his efforts to get the rights back himself, namely his offering to purchase them from the Weinsteins, only to have multiple offers rejected.
While Smith doesn't specify how much his offers were worth for Dogma's streaming rights, the door may not be closed entirely for him to afford them someday in the future. The filmmaker is currently partnered with Lionsgate for the long-awaited Clerks III, and with the film scoring generally favorable reviews, and Smith developing Tusk 2, one can hope that one of the films takes off and allows him the chance to get his film back from Weinstein.