- Okay, we’ve got some clearing up to do. The rumor we posted yesterday regarding a possible New Line takeover, we’re told, is totally bogus, so it’s history…gone. Let’s just say we received some kind phone calls today and leave it at that. Everything’s been straightened out now. Yes, we DID post that the story was just net rumor (in red text no less), but apparently other sites (see below) are starting to believe us just a little bit too much (scary, isn’t it? wow, what should we say next?) so we’re going to put an end to those rumors right now. Lions Gate is in perfect financial shape to take on Dogma, and we’re sure they’re gearing up to give us official notice of the film’s release, along with a ton of promotional materials, any day now. So let’s again cross our fingers, hope for the best, and thank the good folks at Lions Gate for picking up Dogma (and for reading this site — Hi, Lions Gate people!). Best of luck in getting the release put together.
Getting back to what happened, though, there’s the report on Mr. Showbiz today that they sorta lifted from our Dogma: RC site. Here, you read the piece, and we’ll comment afterwards:
Lion’s Gate Picks Up, Drops Dogma?
Kevin Smith’s new religious-themed pic Dogma seems to be the hot potato no distributor wants.
First Miramax passed on the movie — which features pop singer Alanis Morissette as a female God — after parent company Disney found it to be too controversial. Dogma, which just opened the New York Film Festival, languished without a distributor before unconfirmed reports began surfacing that Lion’s Gate, which found success with another hard-to-market indie, Gods and Monsters, had picked up the film.
The current issue of Entertainment Weekly reports that Lion’s Gate is “expected to become the film’s savior,” but the small distribution house did not return Mr. Showbiz’s calls.
Turns out the Canadian company is in dire financial straits, Variety reported Aug. 17. Lion’s Gate has had to put its Vancouver, B.C., studio complex up for sale. They’re asking $28 million for the 20,000-square-foot complex The X-Files used to call home.
Spokesman Peter Waal told Variety that the company was “getting out of real estate and returning to our core business, which is film and television production and distribution.”
So hectic is the rumor mill on the fate of Dogma, a “Dogma Rumor Control” (DRC) site has been created by Smith fans to keep others abreast of the latest news, rumors, and articles on the film’s status.
The DRC, which actually lists more rumors than it “controls,” considers the lack of an announcement from Lion’s Gate suspicious, and spins the theory that the film has changed hands once again.
Now New Line Cinema may take over the whole property, asserts DRC. The case for the rumor: New Line recently reached a deal with Lion’s Gate to co-distribute the Janeane Garofalo and Luke Wilson fall comedy Dog Park and is reportedly looking for another Austin Powers-size hit, although frankly we can’t imagine Smith’s film would fit that bill.
Supporting that theory somewhat, EW, in an article on the new Warner Bros. studio heads, notes that New Line is the riskiest film division of the Time-Warner conglomerate. Writes EW of the New Line division production head: “Cocksure Young Turk Mike De Luca has become the Warner family rogue, cranking out risque and controversial fare like Boogie Nights and The Basketball Diaries.” Sounds like just the place for Dogma.
Meanwhile across the pond, British site Popcorn says, “We can reveal that Dogma has been picked up by Film Four Distributors for a provisional Dec. 26 debut.”
Dogma co-stars Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Linda Fiorentino, Salma Hayek, Alan Rickman, and Chris Rock, and is pencilled in for a Nov. 19 U.S. release.
This story was originally posted on August 18, before Lions Gate Releasing commented on the Dogma rumors. We have since clarified certain details.
In our defense, we think we’re doing a damned good job controlling the rumors. The best thing we can do is list what folks are saying, give our own opinions judging on what we’ve heard, then report back when we’ve resolved the rumors (like we did TODAY, see?). If that’s not controlling the rumors, we don’t know what is. But hey, guys, thanks for the plug. It’s just a shame that you managed to lift all the info for your story from our website yet insult us at the same time. Oh well. We hope folks that read the Showbiz story should stop over at Dogma RC and read our stuff for themselves. It just seems that they’ve taken a piece that we WARNED was purely rumor, turned out to be as such, and made it into their own story (and blasted Lions Gate, Dogma, and even us in the process). Not very good journalism, in our opinion, especially for such a widely read site of their size and scope.
For the record, Dogma: Rumor Control wasn’t created JUST for this purpose, but also as just a site for ALL the latest on the film. Those of you that have been there know that, in addition to rumors and news, we’ve got reviews, press articles, on set reports, downloadables, pics, and lots more. And we’ve been in operation since before the film even went before the cameras.
No matter what happens, we still think you’ll see Dogma by the holidays. We’re sure that Kevin won’t let Film Four beat the U.S. in distribution, so at least expect the flick on or before Christmas.
Keep in mind that Lions Gate was NEVER officially announced as a distributor for Dogma. We speculated for a long time, then indieWIRE reported the news as official last week, but, at presstime, there has been no official announcement regarding the distribution of the film, through ANY studio. As always, we’ll be here with the latest as it develops. We’ll also continue to be astounded at how much influence our silly little website here seems to have over the media. It’s kinda cool, don’t ya think?
