• Is anyone else worried about Dogma’s release date? Sure, we’re happy to finally have one, but we couldn’t help but think that Dogma’s month to shine would have been October. There’s ALWAYS going to be competition out there at the box office, but we wonder if this release date choice is just a time factor, to give Lions Gate time to build a campaign, or rather just a business decision. It looks like Tim Burton’s “Sleepy Hollow” may see release on the EXACT same day as Dogma, a film which has its own cultish status due to Burton himself (though not NEARLY as attention-getting a cast as Dogma’s, if you ask us), plus you’ve got the new Bond flick just one week later (which ya know is going to take the number one slot THAT week, no matter how good or bad a film it is. Hey, if “Wild Wild West” can be number one at the box office, ANYTHING can, remember that.) But we digress. The point is, Dogma’s a damn fine film, and one that deserves to be seen by a large audience theatrically. There’s no doubt in our minds that, once Dogma hits home video down the road, it will become a cult favorite like the Jersey trilogy, top the charts, and receive much praise. We’re just hoping for this flick to be the big, mainstream, high box-office breakout feature that Kevin deserves so much.

So we ask…Lions Gate, Weinsteins, & Crew Askew: Perhaps you’d consider bumping Dogma up a couple weeks? At least releasing in the major cities a few weeks prior to going wide? You’ll please the eager fans as well as increase chances for some big box office before the onslaught of other genre films that risk stealing Dogma’s audience. Or even better, rush out a release on September 1st, when possibly one of the worst films to ever see wide release, “The Astronaut’s Wife”, streets. Wow, we can smell the money from here. But seriously, for us, October’s wide open except for “Fight Club”, and a sure-fire win for Dogma. As the weeks go by, it just seems like things are gonna get more crowded out there.

Dogma is a fantastic, highly original, entertaining film, and thus has that Blair Witch word-of-mouth potential going for it. It’d be great to hit the ground running and build a solid following for the flick before it gets lost in the Bond’s explosions and Burton’s latest.Something to think about, anyway.