• Well, it’s official! I’ve received my plane ticket for Toronto this weekend, and will be hitting the town for the Saturday night Dogma screening! I’m quite excited about the trip, and look forward to coming back next week will all of the juicy details for ya. I’d like to thank Patrick in advance for the incredible deal on the airfare, and Aimee for being crazy enough to pick me up at the airport and keep me entertained for the weekend — Which reminds me, if by SOME miracle anyone’s got an extra ticket for the screening that they can’t use at the last minute, drop me a line and I’ll let you know how to get in touch with me when I’m in in town – I’m sure Aimee would be eternally grateful. Finally, of course special thanks to Kevin for making it all possible.

By the way, both the Toronto AND New York Film Festival screeings of Dogma ARE indeed sold out, we’re getting confirmations from all over the place — In fact, the NYFF Dogma tix sold in 30 minutes flat today! So, if ya made it in, congrats, if not, don’t fret, the flick streets in just a little over 2 months!

• You’ve been asking, questioning, and wondering…And here finally is the first information on the Red Bank Dogma screening that folks have been talking about since the Stash Bash…It looks like some tough circumstances will prevent this from being the total blowout that Kevin hoped to hold, but it’s nice to see that the event will still happen. Keep in mind these are in no way final details, and things can change at the drop of a hat, but here’s Kevin with the details so far:

Well folks, there ya have it…Like Kevin said, the screening WILL happen, but it’s gonna be tough to snag a seat. We’ll hopefully be invited to cover the event, so those of you that don’t manage to snag a ticket can at least feel close to being there. More news as it develops….

• Well, well, well. It’s been a frustrating day. First off, let us apologize for the downtime, slowness, errors, and everything else happening on this site. Computers in general just haven’t been agreeing with us as of late.

First off, we LOVED the fact that so many sites picked up on the Dogma footage we posted. We did refer to it as the “Dogma Trailer” but, as you’ll see below from Kevin’s post, it’s just some footage they threw together. Sure, a lot IS trailer material, but wait for the official as we stated. Sorry for any confusion there.

Next, the server downtime and slowness. When we switched over a month or so ago, we were promised a newer, better, faster place to hold ths site. However, our new hosts now admit they had no idea what they were getting into as far as the amount of traffic this site generates over the course of a day. In short, we’re too busy for them. In fact, our site alone generates more traffc on their server than all other sites they serve COMBINED. And this was BEFORE the Dogma footage was posted yesterday.

So, naturally, we brought the new server to its knees today. Along with that, a new update that went online, including the new articles for Dogma RC, a new poll topic, and more, were lost during a server crash. We’re sorry. We don’t even pretend to understand all the technical mumbo-jumbo that goes with web hosting, we just know that the traffic on News Askew caused some major problems today. But hey, that’s kinda cool, too, ya know? So please, don’t let it get ya down, we’ll keep fighting the good fight if you can bear with us during troublesome days like this one.

We hope to prevent this from happening by mirroring future movie files that appear on this site elsewhere. We’ve started with some mirror sites for the Dogma QuickTime that you’ll find below. Please use these to download the file first and foremost, to keep the news fast for those just coming in to read it.

Special thanks to Mark McLeod, Mike Neuman, & Will Wilkins for the mirrors!
Dogma ET Footage (Mirror #1)
Dogma ET Footage (Mirror #2)
Dogma ET Footage (Mirror #3)

Here’s what Kevin said, by the way:

• Garth Franklin over at Dark Horizons picked Dogma as one of his Top picks for the upcoming Fall movie season:

By the way, Garth’s in Australia, and we still haven’t heard about any Australian release date for the film yet. EntertainmentTonight DID air the Dogma footage on today’s edition in Australia, though, so that’s a good sign.

• Chalk up another newspaper for that Dogma must-see list, too: The Denver Post lists the flick in their 25 must-see movieslist for the fall (though we wonder how many movies are actually getting released in the fall–If we start seeing “The 100Top Movies To See This Fall” type articles, we’re getting skeptical).
• Remember the very cool Project Pocketwatch, which detailed a growing collection of original artwork based on Kevin’sSuperman Lives script and actor choices? Well, the FINAL SHOT of the project was posted today. Congrats to Pocketwatch ona job well done with all of this. We’re very impressed. It’d be a great time to surf over to the project site and downloadeach picture to save as a collection. We will.
• On their webpage, the German distribution company Kinowelt has announced that they’d like to distribute Dogma in Julyof 2000. No idea on how legit this is, but those of you in Germany can breathe a sigh of relief in the fact that it lookslike the flick is at least being pursued for a release, and not too far off, either!
• Dogma UK Release Info: Anyone else noticed that the 26th is a Sunday? Turns out Dogma may NOT hit theaters in the UKon that very day, but possibly the 24th, the Friday before. It’s a confusing time with the holidays and all, but Film Fourhas admitted that nothing was confirmed for either date, but they hoped it would be over the Festive period “some time, possibly before that”. More news as we hear it.

• Vincent Pereira checked in with us during the wee hours of the night yesterday (the guy’s nocturnal, what can we say) with a great scoop — Hot off the drawing board, here’s the proposed concept for the BACK of the upcoming A BETTER PLACESpecial Edition DVD! Click the pic for a much larger, clearer version.

Along with that, here’s the latest on the disc’s production: Vincent has been spending almost all of his waking hours makingsure that this DVD is perfect. Because of all the extra care he’s putting into it, the possible release date has slipped alittle bit — They’re now looking at a Winter release date, but hopefully before Christmas, so it’s not much later thanexpected, anyway. And this is going to be worth the wait. Check this out: Vincent says:

Those of you saw what Vincent did when he helped in the production of the Mallrats disc, so you know that he’s going to doan amazing job with the release of his first film on DVD. Whatever the release date turns out to be, we’ll be anxiouslyawaiting the finished product.

• Well, we’re sure that 95% of you aren’t surprised, but it’s now OFFICIAL! Lions Gate has announced that they’ve acquired Dogma and will release the film. This is something we’ve been sort of sitting on, since the good folks at Lions Gate have been in direct contact with us for the past few weeks now as things have developed. At any rate, this is GREAT news for the film, and quite timely as well, with the flick making its North American debut this weekend in Toronto, as well as the trailer going nationwide this weekend.

We’ve got the full text of the press release directly ahead, or you can download the studio’s official copies of the thing in either Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF format.

Congratulations to everyone involved, this is exciting news! We’re looking forward to what we hear is going to be an amazing release campaign from Lions Gate — Dogma’s on its way!

LIONS GATE ACQUIRES “DOGMA”

Kevin Smith Film Starring Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Linda Fiorentino, Salma Hayek, Jason Lee, Jason Mewes, Alan Rickman and Chris Rockto be Released this Fall

SEPTEMBER 8, 1999, Toronto — Lions Gate Films has acquired North American rights to “Dogma,” the eagerly anticipated comic fantasy from acclaimed filmmaker Kevin Smith, it was announced today. The film, which stars Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Linda Fiorentino, Salma Hayek, Jason Lee, Jason Mewes, Alan Rickman, Chris Rock, and Smith himself, will be released wide this fall.

“What else can I say except that I’m ecstatic,” said Kevin Smith, writer and director of ‘Dogma’. “The Lion’s Gate guys did top-notch work last year with ‘Gods and Monsters’ and ‘Affliction’, and I have every confidence that they’ll do the same if not better with ‘Dogma’. I give these guys props for standing behind our flick, and giving audiences a chance to see a pretty funny pro-faith film.”

“I’m thrilled that Lions Gate is handling the film,” said Harvey Weinstein, who along with his brother Bob, personally acquired the film from Miramax in April. “I know they will do a great job, and we are looking forward to a very successful release of the movie.”

“We are very excited to have acquired a film with so much potential to succeed on a big scale, both artistically and commercially,” said Lions Gate Films president Jeff Sackman. “We have been building our distribution company steadily with the precise goal of gaining an opportunity like this.”

Mark Urman and Tom Ortenberg, co-presidents of Lion’s Gate releasing, began pursuing “Dogma” after seeing the film at the Cannes Film Festival in May. The film, which was a hit at the French festival, will also play at the Toronto and New York Film festivals in the coming weeks.

Urman said, “‘Dogma’ is the ideal addition to our ever-evolving slate, and like all of our previous hits, it too is the work of a brilliant writer/director with a wholly original point of view.”

“We are extremely excited by ‘Dogma’s’ possibilities,” added Ortenberg. “Not only will it allow us to use our proven skills, it will also enable us to do things people haven’t seen us do before.”

In “Dogma” Affleck and Damon play fallen angels whose scheme to re-enter Paradise threatens to destroy the world. Standing in their way is a woman having a crisis of faith (Fiorentino), who is assisted by a winged messenger of God (Rickman), a hitherto unknown Thirteenth Apostle (Rock), a heavenly muse (Hayek) and two unlikely prophets, Jay (Mewes) and Silent Bob (Smith).

A View Askew production, “Dogma” was produced and co-edited (with Smith) by his longtime partner, Scott Mosier. Laura Greenlee is co-producer, Robert Yeoman (”Drugstore Cowboy”) is director of photography, Robert Holtzman is the production designer and Abigail Murray is the costume designer. Special visual effects are by Station X Studios.

LIONS GATE ENTERTAINMENT CORP. (AMEX/TSE:LGF) develops, produces and distributes a targeted range of film and television content. Via four operating divisions-motion pictures, television, animation, and studio facilities-the distinctive Lions Gate brand is recognized as a symbol of quality entertainment throughout North America and around the world.

Lions Gate Films received two Academy Awards for its 1998 releases, “Gods and Monsters” (Best Adapted Screenplay, Bill Condon) and “Affliction” (Best Supporting Actor, James Coburn). Current and upcoming titles on Lion Gate’s release slate include Don McKellar’s award-winning apocalyptic romance, “Last Night,” Francis Veber’s Cesar-winning French comedy sensation, “The Dinner Game,” and Francois Girard’s “The Red Violin” starring Samuel L. Jackson. The company’s most recent acquisitions, Peter Greenaway’s “8 1/2 Women,” starring John Standing, Polly Walker, Amanda Plummer and Toni Collette, and Errol Morris’ “Mr. Death,” will have their North American premieres as Special Presentations at the 1999 Toronto International Film Festival. Alison Maclean’s, “Jesus’ Son,” starring Billy Crudup, Samantha Morton, Holly Hunter, Dennis Hopper and Denis Leary, screened at the 1999 Telluride Film Festival and will screen at both the Venice International Film Festival and the Toronto Film Festival. The company recently wrapped production on Mary Harron’s “American Psycho” starring Christian Bale and will release the film on April 7, 2000.

We think that Lions Gate is a perfect choice for handling the flick, and couldn’t be happier. After all the controversy, it seems that things really did work out best for the film and everyone involved. What a long, strange trip it’s been…

• Second update of the day today, just to stay current with things. Vincent checked in with an update about the forthcoming A Better Place DVD (which sounds better every time we talk to him) along with an exclusive shot of the proposed back cover. In addition to that, we’ve got your daily dose of NewsBites as we head into the latter half of the week. No word on which flicks the Dogma trailer will be attached to this weekend, by the way, though you can probably assume it’ll be on the more action-oriented and R-rated flicks at your local cineplex. Should be fairly easy to find, though.

Interesting Fact: Yesterday was the biggest day as far as viewership in News Askew history. We logged over 10,000 hits, which is over a 300% increase from our usual day. Thanks to AICN, Dark Horizons, and all the other mentions, as well as to you for visiting. Sorry about the slowness, we’ll do our best to avoid future problems when we debut video files.

RealVideo (Low Bandwidth) RealVideo (High Bandwidth) QuickTime (11 Megs) Running Time : 117 Seconds

• Due to the overwhelming response and demand we’ve gotten on the Dogma footage we posted yesterday, we’ve put it some overtime to get some better versions online for you ASAP. We’re now happy to announce the crisper, cleaner, larger QuickTime version’s availability, along with both low and high bandwidth streaming versions of the footage in RealPlayer G2 format. This should cover all of you!

As always, please make sure that you’ve got the latest versions of theRealPlayer and Quicktime before playing any of our video files. Click the buttons provided for free downloadable versions of the latest players.

Keep in mind that due to the annoying Entertainment Tonight voiceover, and rumors that the trailer shown in Canada was slightly different, that a more official-looking, top quality version of this footage should appear soon, more than likely when View Askew debuts there official Dogma site. Until then, enjoy!

• We’ve been experiencing some strange downtime lately, more than likely due to the amazing number of hits we’re logging due to the Dogma footage being on-site. Thanks to many of the other great sites out there like Dark Horizons, and Aint-It-Cool-News, we’re logging a TON of traffic today! So please, if the site’s sluggish or troublesome, give it a little breather and retry, it shouldn’t give you trouble for long. Thanks to everyone for checking us out, and to our new visitors, welcome!

• Kevin’s doing some Canadian promotion yet again! This Friday, he’s scheduled to be coming in for the Humble & Fred show on 102.1 fm (CFNY, Edge 102). The show airs early, between 5 am and 9:20 am, and is available online in Real audio, so get those work PC’s with the headphones hooked up! You can access the feed HERE.
• Two new Dogma summaries have appeared in the media…The first comes from the Toronto Sun, with locations and showtimes for the flick and a few words:

Also, the St. Louis Post chose Dogma as one of the films most worth seeing this fall, but also cited fears of it not havinga large opening (though we’ve heard otherwise):

• We’ve added a new fan-made Dogma teaser poster as well as a pic from that Toronto Star piece over in our Dogma picture gallery at RC.

That’s about it, really…Exciting day though! That was actually OUR first look at the final Dogma trailer ourselves, andwe’re impressed! It’ll definitely do great things for the film. It’s been over a year (believe it or not) since we firstlaid eyes on the workprint, so seeing the final product is something we’re highly anticipating. ‘Til next time…