“I’ll be talking to the Skywalker folks this week re: the 5.1 remix of A BETTER PLACE, and then will have a better idea of when all the work will be done for the DVD, but it’s going to be released sometime in the 1st quarter of 2000, deinfitely.

As for AUTOGRAPH, the first LONG draft was handed off to various confidents of mine to get their notes- so far Lynch and Mosier have given me good notes, and I’m working (with a friend actually) on draft 2, which should bedone soon and all sorts of polished an’ shit. Then, I give the script to the Money Fairy and get a nice big budget and make the movie, or something like that.”

4. I think “Dogma” sounds like a pretty good movie. I’m going.

Lions Gate’s release of the controversial R-rated irreverent comedy “Dogma” opened in third place to a much better than expected estimated $8.77 million at 1,269 theaters ($6,907 per theater). Directed by Kevin Smith, it stars Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Linda Fiorentino, Salma Hayek, Jason Lee, Jason Mewes, Alan Rickman and Chris Rock.

“We’re thrilled,” Lions Gate Co-President Tom Ortenberg said Sunday morning. “The picture was playing to sellout crowds literally across America. We had very few double prints, so to do that kind of a per-screen average I think was phenomenal. The picture seemed to play well broadly. We were getting not just a younger crowd and a college crowd, but also a decent adult crowd who were drawn by a lot of wonderful reviews on the picture, and we played so brilliantly at three very prestigious film festivals — Cannes, Toronto and New York.

“In addition to being a kind of broad-based pop culture entertainment, it’s also very clever and insightful and, I think, that was very appealing to a more adult audience, as well, that a lot of people didn’t think we would be able to attract. I was at many different theaters this weekend watching the film, and audiences were just eating it up.”

Who was on hand to see “Dogma?” “Slightly more male, but the film has a lot of things going for it,” Ortenberg said. “I don’t have the final polling numbers (as of early Sunday morning), but it was very broad-based — a good mix of males and females and more adult than some people thought we would be able to attract.”

Ortenberg said that Lions Gate has a lot scheduled on the promotion front this week: “We have a lot of good week two publicity banked. Knowing there are a couple of biggies opening this week against us, we decided to hold off on some of the publicity so that (it breaks in the second week). Today, there’s a New York Times piece on Kevin Smith. Tomorrow, Kevin is on ‘Larry King Live.’ Wednesday, Selma is on Jay Leno. Thursday, Jason Lee is on Craig Kilborn. There are features this coming week in Time, Entertainment Weekly and Rolling Stone. I think that would be considered by some to be a great week one publicity campaign. We think that will really help keep the profile of the movie high.

“We’ll probably add a few (theaters) in some metropolitan areas where the picture is playing particularly well. But I think we picked a good number (of runs to open with).”

While it’s playing strongly in big cities, Ortenberg said, it’s also doing well all over. “We’re having great weekends in Knoxville, Tenn., and Toledo, Ohio,” he said. “In Toledo, we’re going to do over $20,000 this weekend. And Knoxville is going to be doing well over $10,000. And Savannah, Ga., is going to be doing over $10,000. So it’s really playing well across the board. In some of the more metropolitan areas, it’s doing even better, where we might add a few screens. But, for the most part, I think we’ll stick around where we are.”

“I’ll be talking to the Skywalker folks this week re: the 5.1 remix of A BETTER PLACE, and then will have a better idea of when all the work will be done for the DVD, but it’s going to be released sometime in the 1st quarter of 2000, deinfitely.

Just wanted to give you all a shout-out and thanks for the killer weekend. Take into consideration the amount of screens we’re on, and that gross is pretty sweet (the more expensive – negative and marketing costs – ‘Messenger’ was on far more screens and tracking way better than us on Thursday). We’re all happy over here (though I wouldn’t be surprised if the final number on Tuesday was slightly different than the reported number).

Aside from all this ‘Dogma’ nonesuch, Jen and I had Harley baptised yesterday. We held a party during the day and had the Christening at the 5:30 evening Mass at my parish. Not a furrowed brow or angry parishoner in the whole Catholic bunch (with the exception of the kid herself, who seemed mighty pissed to be suddenly dunked in water three times and held up – naked – in front of a bunch of strangers).

I believe the Larry King thing is a taping today. Although it’s a live show, I don’t think we’re doing it live. More on that when it gets cleared up.

Next weekend is going to be tough (‘Bond’ and ‘Sleepy Hollow’), but hopefully, we’ll hold our own. I’m just happy that the people who are seeing it seem to be liking it. I mean, jeez – it’s a movie about faith and religion. When have they ever been crowd-pleasers?

Thanks for all the comments and kind words (and sorry to all those who were let down or just flat-out hated the flick; maybe next time, maybe not). Share in the success yourselves, as you’re all an integral part of it.

So that’s what it feels like to open wide.