Marvel Comics announced Wednesday the renewal of the Marvel Knights line through 2000. Jimmy Palmiotti and Joe Quesada will return to head up the line.

Kevin Smith will return to write Daredevil, as will screenwriter Bob Gale, who has written Batman stories for DC Comics this year.

“I’m pleased at the prospect of another productive year,” Quesada said. “We’ll be pushing the envelope and breaking fertile ground, breathing new life into second string and tired characters.”

“I’m really happy to be given the chance to continue the success of Marvel Knights for another year, and to continue to provide Marvel Comics and our customers with what I think is the best product on the market today,”Palmiotti said.

Said Matt Ragone, vice-president of retail sales: “Fan reaction to theMarvel Knights titles has been overwhelmingly positive and we look forward to another year of sales success.”

indieWIRE has learned that two distributors are at the head of the pack in pursuit of Kevin Smith’s new film “Dogma.” The movie, which had its public Cannes screening on Friday night at midnight following two press screenings earlier in the day, is being chased by Lions Gate and MGM, with a third distributor — Artisan Entertainment — hanging on as a “distant” third according to a source close to the film. Reached on his first day back in the office yesterday (Wednesday), Lions Gate President Mark Urman acknowledged that he saw the film this weekend — he did not deny his company’s pursuit of the movie, but declined comment on the subject.

Artisan has been mentioned often as a potential suitor for the film. Reached at a mid-week party in Cannes, one Artisan executive confirmed thecompany was interested in the movie, but then quipped, “So is everyoneelse!” — an LA Times report Saturday positioned Artisan as a front-runner for the film.

However, in a post on the NewsAskew (http://www.newsaskew.com) site surveying his trip to Cannes, Kevin Smith essentially put the Artisan rumors to bed. “You can all put away your Artisan hats,” Smith wrote, indicating that the company offered to take video rights for the movie. “Word was they called back Saturday afternoon after the NY and LA Times pieces hit the street,” Smith added, “Needless to say, I’d like to go another way.” indieWIRE reached Artisan late yesterday afternoon, and the company declined comment.

Although Miramax International is handling foreign sales of “Dogma,” as the new owners of the pic, Harvey and Bob Weinstein are personally taking the lead on selling the domestic rights, an insider indicated yesterday. According to Smith, Harvey Weinstein “wants to take his time to hear everyone out (except Artisan at this point).” Smith speculated on a September or October release date for the movie, dependent upon whether the film screens at the New York Film Festival.

“It’s nice that Harvey and Bob are still involved with the movie,” Smith commented in indieWIRE over the weekend, “Eventually it’ll find a home, hopefully, you know — it’s got those ‘Good Will Hunting’ guys so maybe we’ll make a dime off it.”

While the “Dogma” cast includes Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Linda Fiorentino, Salma Hayek, Alan Rickman, Chris Rock, Janeane Garofalo, and Bud Cort, as well as Smith-regulars Jason Lee and Jason Mewes, an emerging issue is whether the film should be considered a smaller “art-house” film or — given the high profile cast — a larger, more mainstream release. During the impromptu news conference following Friday’s Cannes press screening, Harvey Weinstein stated more than once, “This movie is not a small movie, it’s not an art house movie.” He offered, “It’s going to be the size of ‘Pulp Fiction,’ if they [the distributor] do it right.” In a conversation with indieWIRE yesterday, an IndieWood studio insider who saw the film in Cannes pegged the movie as a smaller art-house release, despite its stellar cast.

Critical response to the film has been lead by major mentions in high-profile dailies stateside. As indicated, Janet Maslin from the New York Times weighed in over the weekend, as did Kenneth Turan in the LA Times. Turan called the movie, “A lively, if uneven, film of ideas that combines a breezy and brazen save-the-world comic fantasy with crude adolescent humor and a sincere exploration of questions of religious faith.”

Roger Ebert offered his take on Monday, delivering a supportive review. “Smith’s dialogue is funny and smart, getting laughs with concepts and paradoxes that would be beyond the reach of many filmmakers,” he wrote. Addressing the controversial aspects of the picture which forced the Winsteins wallet in the first place, Ebert added, “My own suspicion is that ‘Dogma’ will play funnier and be more entertaining for Catholics than for any other group. Stand back to get the big picture, and the movie isn’t blasphemous so much as devout by an extremely indirect route.” Meanwhile, Amy Taubin of the Village Voice added to the heat yesterday, writing, “Disappointed Star Wars devotees take note: Kevin Smith’s Dogma is the real ‘Phantom Menace,’ as inspired, goofy, subversive, and thought-provoking a pop-culture vision of the battle between good and evil as has been presented on the movie screen.”

If any singular review stung the “Dogma” camp it was clearly Todd McCarthy’s slap published Monday morning in Variety. “A very vulgar pro-faith comedy rather than a sacrilegious goof, ‘Dogma’ is an extraordinarily uneven film that significant cutting might be able to transform into a playable one,” the critic offered, adding that the 135-minute film needs to be shortened by 30 – 40 minutes.

McCarthy is not the first critic to recommend cutting the movie. In his post-Cannes dispatch, Smith indicated that the journalists he spoke with in Cannes, while positive about the movie, encouraged that it be shortened. “They almost all threw out a figure of ten to fifteen minutes, though – a far cry from a half hour or more,” Smith wrote, “So once we’ve settled in, it’s back to the Avid for some more trimming.”

Attorney Petrocelli, 20 years with Mitchell, Silberberg and Knupp, allowed that his firm spent $6 million on the case — of course receiving nothing in return. They just wanted to do it. (Petrocelli lost 30 pounds during the trial!) His law firm has represented many show business clients (studios included) over the years. Among them today are Harvey and Bob Weinstein’s Miramax, and Petrocelli is currently representing their “Dogma” feature which the Weinsteins bought back from Miramax to shield Disney from accusations by Catholic groups. Petrocelli’s seen “Dogma” and says he doesn’t feel Kevin Smith’s picture is anti-Catholic.

Smith: “I didn’t set out to make a controversial movie.” (photo: Henny Garfunkel)

IN LIMBO: DOGMA DELIBERATED AT CANNES

By Amy Taubin

Disappointed Star Wars devotees take note: Kevin Smith’s Dogma is the real Phantom Menace, as inspired, goofy, subversive, and thought-provoking a pop-culture vision of the battle between good and evil as has been presented on the movie screen. Dogma follows the further adventures of Jay and Silent Bob, the movie-buff stoners from Clerks and Chasing Amy, as they become enmeshed in a struggle between angels and demons and try to prevent the apocalypse from starting in New Jersey.

With Smith, producer Scott Mosier, and stars Ben Affleck, Alan Rickman, and Linda Fiorentino in attendance, Dogma screened out of competition at the tail end of the Cannes Film Festival and made it seem like there was something new to be found under the intermittent Mediterranean sun. It also made it seem as if the dream of American independent film— the fusion of personal vision and popular culture— might survive the millennium. At various moments reminiscent of Star Wars, ’60s Batman comics, and the Bible, Dogma has a script as hilarious as The Rocky Horror Picture Show (it demands to be memorized and chanted back at the screen).

After the first press screening, Miramax’s Harvey Weinstein held an informal press conference in the middle of the street outside the theater. He is in a bit of a bind here, having bought the film from his own company for $14 million when Disney got nervous, fearing the wrath of the Catholic right. What Disney doesn’t understand is that what Dogma could have done for Disney is what American Graffiti did for Universal. The only way for Weinstein not to alienate such a talent is to release his movie in 1500 theaters ASAP.

“I didn’t set out to make a controversial movie, and I don’t think I did,” says Smith, a practicing Catholic who attends Mass every Sunday. “How can any church take a stand against a movie with a rubber poop-monster? The movie doesn’t fuck with any of the key characters. Christ isn’t even in the movie.” Stay tuned for imminent developments.

What’s Up With ‘Dogma’?

Depending on who you hear it from, after its screening at Cannes, Dogma’s owners, Bob and Harvey Weinstein, either got some interested callers or none at all for the potentially controversial film by Kevin Smith.

According to Variety, MGM, Lions Gate and Artisan are all said to be interested in the film and have begun preliminary talks with the Weinstein brothers, the film’s owners. Furthermore, the trade reports that at least two more studios have asked to view the pic back in L.A.

Meanwhile, according to USA Today, as of Sunday night, the film had received no takers. The paper reports that “is few distributors are inclined to bail out Weinstein, a high-voltage competitor, and fewer still can strategize a way around the risks.”

Time will tell…

MARVEL TO COLLECT KEVIN SMITH’S DAREDEVIL IN SEPTEMBER! Just in case you missed a few of the critically acclaimed issues of filmmaker Kevin Smith’s run as writer on DAREDEVIL, you can be like DD and have no fear! Word has it that the House of Ideas is gathering issues #1 to #8 into a snazzy trade paperback for September release! And even if you do have all of the issues tucked away in mint condition, this 192-page volume is great for whipping out again and again to soak up the amazing art by Joe Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti!