Kevin Smith Says Harvey Weinstein Is Holding One Of His Best Movies Hostage
Kevin Smith says disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein will not allow Dogma to be streamed or purchased.
In the long career of writer and director Kevin Smith who is currently promoting the new film Clerks 3, his movies have spanned the mundane to the comic book adjacent, all the while bringing Smith’s sense of humor and nuanced charm to light. From humble beginnings in New Jersey filming movies like Clerks and the Ben Affleck and Joey Lauren Adams sexual identity romantic comedy Chasing Amy, Smith’s association with the independent feature film world is felt throughout many of his projects over the last three decades. Now, it appears that disgraced mega-producer and convicted sex offender Harvey Weinstein may be responsible for holding on to one of Kevin Smith’s most appreciated movies, Dogma, while keeping it hostage from availability on streaming platforms and video on demand services.
According to a report by The Wrap, writer and director Kevin Smith has confirmed that producer Harvey Weinstein is not allowing Dogma to be available on any current subscription streaming platforms, and audiences are not allowed to purchase the movie to save for a later date. A satirical look at religion in the modern age, Dogma was produced by Weinstein’s then production company, Miramax, before folding it into The Weinstein Company. After attempting to buy the movie back from Weinstein amid the producer’s MeToo era sexual assault allegations, Weinstein balked at the prospect and held onto the title without giving Smith and his producing partners the chance to do what they want with the movie and its characters.
Kevin Smith had worked with Harvey Weinstein’s production companies Miramax and The Weinstein Company in order to make several now well-known films, including Clerks, Chasing Amy, Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Clerks 2, and Zack and Miri Make a Porno. The latter starred Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks as roommates in Pittsburgh who resort to making a pornographic film starring them in order to attract the attention of their former high school classmates and make enough money for rent and utilities. The 2008 film was the last project Smith made with any of Weinstein’s companies and supposedly hadn’t spoken to the infamous producer until just before the allegations surfaced in 2017 when Weinstein attempted to make more projects with Smith surrounding the characters and actors from Dogma.
When it debuted in 1999, Kevin Smith’s Dogma was heavily lauded for its ensemble cast of A-list actors, but also panned by religious organizations before the film’s release for its satirical angle towards God, the Catholic church, blasphemy, and religion as a whole. The movie starred a post-Good Will Hunting Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, as well as Linda Fiorentino, Salma Hayek, Chris Rock, Alan Rickman, Alanis Morissette, and Kevin Smith frequent collaborators Jason Mewes and Jason Lee. Dogma was one of the earliest movies to be distributed by Lionsgate Films and went on to gross over $44 million at the box office against a budget of $10 million, which was viewed as one of the highest grossing movies for Smith’s Askewniverse at the time.
