Fox network to start producing Christian films
Posted by Rodneyon 19. 09. 2006in News Chat
In the natural progression of all things evil there will now be a Christian division to News Corp Fox Filmed Entertainment. The blessed people over at latimes.com give us this:
In the biggest commitment of its sort by a Hollywood studio, News Corp.’s Fox Filmed Entertainment is expected to unveil plans today to capture the gargantuan Christian audience that made “The Passion of the Christ” a global phenomenon. The home entertainment division of Rupert Murdoch’s movie studio plans to produce as many as a dozen films a year under a banner called FoxFaith. At least six of those films will be released in theaters under an agreement with two of the nation’s largest chains, AMC Theatres and Carmike Cinemas. “A segment of the market is starving for this type of content,” said Simon Swart, general manager of Fox’s U.S. home entertainment unit.
Ok now I know this is going to get people on both sides of Christianity talking. Like John I once was a religious person and now I am not. My first reaction to this article was outrage, from my now unreligious state and also from my past Christian morals.
But this isn’t personal, Fox is a business, and as a business Fox just wants to make money. Being smart it recognizes that the Christian market is one that is once again growing.
I’m curious to see if Christians will balk at the idea of Fox getting cash for Christ, or if they will be happy to have their demographic more represented and provided for in films.
Would I pay to see a Christian based movie? It depends. What is a Christian movie according to Fox? If it’s a well directed story driven film with known actors that maybe has less violence and more focus on being a good person, yes I’d probably go see it. I like movies that bring religious factors up for debate; What Dreams May Come, The Truman Show and The Matrix all got me thinking about if there is a big man (or woman) up in the sky. But if these are going to be conservative Christian propaganda films well I’m not interested.
Even though in theory it is a good move to make Christian movies I actually wonder if Fox will succeed. With all of the varying degrees of values in churches today it will be a fine line between whether these movies are too Christian or not Christian enough.
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I think the thing that makes the bible such a great blockbuster is the great stories. Whether you’re Christian or not, I think a well done bible story will always find an audience. Controversy only helps – look at Big Mel.
How can this possibly be a good idea? How can any studio commit itself to producing a dozen films a year all on the same topic?
Even if they wanted to make a dozen horror films or a dozen romances, I can’t see how an audience would embrace that much of a single genre over the space of 12 months.
The only studio I can think of, off the top of my head, that sticks to a single genre would be Pixar, with kids movies. But they do ONE film a year not TWELVE!
Reading the first sentence, I thought I was gonna have to go on a defence mode and start criticizing, but after reading the posts, it became clear that wasn’t necessary. Or atleast, not yet.
I don’t see the dilemma for a production company to make religious based programming, depending on how they portray everything. Afterall, there wouldn’t be so many denominations of Christianity if everyone agreed, so the producers are going to try and walk a thin line to unite them all. I don’t think it’s right or wrong. However, it could very well lead to some people taking advantage if the programs become popular, and spread hate (yes, so called Christians can be guilty of hate).
Now, only time will tell how good or bad these films/messages will be, so we can’t judge them based on what little we know, so I’d wait to see what comes next before stating more.
Shawn, have you read the Bible? If you have, then you know there’s several stories that can be told, and more than enough to fill 12 a year. If the production teams can make films as good and fast as was done in the 50′s and 60′s, they can bang one out every month. Afterall, most of the set would consist of a desert, so there’s not much to build. LOL
What’s these movies gonna teach me that I don’t already know? Most of them if not all won’t be any good. Why because the sole purpose is to make money. That’s when the bureaucracy starts. It’s a shame people of religion would rather go to a movie theater than church.
SHAWN…
I COULD be wrong, but I think you’re nuts. Never under-estimate the Christian audience. They will come in droves to these screenings all year long as long as the stories are basically bible stories or good hearted, faith based, idealistic stories.
Church groups alone will buy up entire screenings. I didn’t get to see Kong on my favorite screen because some church group bought the rights to see NARNIA for a ful day.
And unless you were under a rock, member The Passion? They saw this over and over and over.
Murdoch obviously remembers… “if you build it, they will come.”
And they will. Murdoch is a genious and wouldn’t do this if it wasn’t going to make him A TON of dough.
~Drewbacca
MoviePatron.com
OK, here’s the thing,, i think they will make alot of money , why?
Quote: from John
“I’m curious to see if Christians will balk at the idea of Fox getting cash for Christ, or if they will be happy to have their demographic more represented and provided for in films.”
Cash for chirst?..umm. yea!! they will be cuz revs and preachers do it all the time. I saw a few of the those so called healing shows and please give me shows as i look thought the channels and they piss me off, they put they hand over a stack of doantions or your healed walk my son,,and eveyone belives this and those and who watch people who sent they money in to these churches gladly. nobody wants to be left out so they send in they money for thier prayer, or when one saids i NEED this much money or “god ” will kill me or something like that and they do. so why won’t they go see these movies, i mean they all ready have them but not mainsteam now they are making bigger. Put them up on a larger scale, so yes, when people belive as much as that,they pay, nuff said..
And yes it’s just bis to the studios. Bottom line
PS: not saying all Revs and Preachers do that, but the ones on tv needing your money making a life out of it, thats who i am talking about, and their followers will. Look at Tom C’s outfit..
anyway just my 2 cents,,,
Horns to the sky,\m/
Jarrod-D
Well I’m an Atheist, but I am sure I will go to see these films.
I love a good fantasy.
Let’s get one thing straight: “What Dreams May Come” has nothing to do with “Christianity” or any of its denominations. It has its groundings in Buddism and Hinduism. The re-incarnation themes of “Dreams” was so heavy handed, in fact, it made the story very hard to follow. One character was several characters [Cuba Gooding is Max Von Sydow...] and after of rescuing the wife who offed herself, the protag and his wife start over re-incarnated – !
But you bring up a great point, Sharon. What is a “Christian movie”?
Speaking as a Christian AND a lover of film with an objective mind, here are the main problems:
* When Hollywood listens to the public and makes “family oriented” films, non-animation. non FX…nobody [meaning the audience] supports them. Note I am reffering to “family” films which contain very little, if any, offensive material.
*So “The Christians” get into movies. With all due respect to Peter LaLonde, TBN…if you ever see the films they put out, they are ‘clean’ but they are horrible in production. There’s a reason for this. It’s watered down. They are [generally] afraid to offend those in thier own ranks. Sometimes, it isn’t just a watered down story; it also on a few occasions becomes a watered down message [the Omega Code films] and gets turned into mindless mish mash.
Not to mention, there was the LaLonde/Cloud Ten practice of releasing a film to VIDEO first, then asking the same audience to see it in the limited run of theatres. Like that really worked. This practice still happens with the “Left Behind” movies, which should be better.
Granted, some “Christian” backed films have gotten some push in quality, although not my much. {“The Gospel” comes quickly to mind, as does “Luther”, the films based on CS Lewis’ Narnia’,and to some extent, Tyler Perry]
But there used to be a day when Hollywood made films like “Ben-Hur” and ‘The Ten Commandements”, “The Robe”, “Greatestest Story Ever Told” etc. A few years before “Passion” there were two TV miniseries regarding Jesus. There was a time in the mid to late 90′s where TNT would back up movies like “Joeseph”, “Abraham” and “Solomon”.
But as far as Christian themed films by Christians goes, how can anyone take some films seriously, in spite of good acting or the best of intentions? Just last month, there was a big hubbub over “Facing The Giants”….which opens in limited release at the end of the month…
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0805526/
…where even though *the Christian filmmakers* have accepted a PG rating, there was this vast outcry by “the Christians” who fall into the category of “Hollywood’s out to get us” :(
Because it wasn’t rated “G”. And then it makes “Christians” as a whole look like a bunch of whiners. [Note: the trailer of this film does not make it look interesting, and all but gives the ending away]
And while I disagreew with ‘DaVinci Code”, I do admit the film got mant “stale” Christians to crack open thier bibles, and stick up for thier faith, when most of the time, they (and I hate to say this) simply stick on the sidelines. And why not? When our Christian leaders tell “the flock” ‘Stay away from Hollywood’. “Christians have no business being in Hollywood’. “Hollywood isn’t Holywood’ etc. and the faithful take such advice…y’know, I have little, if any, sympathy or support when they come up out of the woodwork and proclaim “Let’s boycott!” As far as I’m concerned, if you tell your flock not to be involved in filmmaking, if you tell them to stay away from movies in general…
1. They won’t make a difference, or even have a say in H’wood.
2. If you feel movies/media is currupting and don’t go to movies, why bother protesting?
Stay away, you had plenty of practice…
3. Unlike some of my brothers and sisters in Christ, I do believe, with the exception of porn [X rated-I want to stress that-some "definitions" are way too broad] you need to see a film to debate it properly. Yet, I’ll admit, in the past few years, I found this becoming more harder to do- because I’ll make my points and anyone who has a chip on their shoulder regarding “Christians” (or being hurt by those claiming to be; which is really the root of most problems) still won’t accept my debate should I have one.
4. You mentioned “Truman Show”. I loved this film, and got the “potential” message. A few of my Christian friends liked it to a point- “Then they ruined it by taking the Lord’s name in vain!” I asked them the scene. “The end!” Then I tell them, you took it out of context. The person who said ‘Goddamit’ is himself ‘playing God’. Truman turns his back on a false world and a false God. “That’s not good enough!”
Whatever. I didn’t have a problem since I interpeted it as rebuke. Do I think some things are needed for films? I think if productions are going to shoot for cover, [TV] then if the meaning isn’t lost, or in some rare occasions, enchanced [Blade Runner "I want more life, Father"] then why not just film the ‘clean’ version?
There’s a lot more I want to say, but I feel I’m starting to rant a bit…or preach…
All all I can say is, if Fox wants to make some films based on faith, let them. I’d like to see a flick based on Gideon (or “the” Gideons), the Roman Emperor Constintine, a biopic on Billy Graham, and maybe a flick with Carmen in it…with a bigger budget…do a film based on Elijah/books of Kings. Bring it on!
But regardless…if Fox or whoever wants to tap into the crowd, they must be as open as Mel was, or even DreamWorks, when they did the Joeseph cartoon. I’m not saying “being accountable” but I’m saying “be open with a dialog”. Some suggest Mel baited the Christians with “Passion”. Well, it could have went the other way, and, if that’s what some believe, fine. It worked. Where is Hollywood pulling the same strings, not counting “Narnia”?
Fox, being Fox, gets unfairly criticized in their news division for giving both sides of a story; yet they are dubbed “right wing”. I suspect this news is going to get the same amount of BS from the Fox critics.
But who else has stepped up?
Welcome to themovieblog, where contributors write novels in the comment section.
;)
~Drewbacca
MoviePatron.com
I’m of the same mind as Darren. If Fox wants to dump money into production of these films, let them. If they’re good, I’ll go out and see them but I also won’t boycott them if they look bad, I’ll just not go. As far as I’m concerned, as long as a good story is told, I could care less who the target audience is. We’ll just have to wait to see what the studio offers.
I’ve seen enough hardline Christian propaganda “movies” to last a lifetime.
One.
It was one of the most disturbing pieces of film I’ve ever seen. Be a good strict Christian because stray slightly from the path and your father will be a drunken gambler, your mother will become a drug addict, your sister will die and you will go to hell.
If this is the bandwagon Fox is jumping on. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
Really, when you think about it, A Christian movie is no different from any other moive. It has its themes, its characters and its plots…. and most importantly, it has it’s audience and it will appeal to some and not appeal to other. No different from any other film really.
I am confused why you take such a hard lined stance against “Christian” movies. Why do you not take the same stance against movies that mock Christianity? It is no secret that The Church has manipulated faith in the past to perform horrible acts. Nonetheless, should “Christianity” be sacrificed due to people corrupting it??? Thankfully, it cannot.
I celebrate the idea of “Christian” films. Why would you, a professed lover of film, wish to see the scope of the industry limited in any way?
I fully endorse your right to criticize movies once they are released. However, do not condemn the right to make them.
I am not sure if you mean to or not, but you come across as a Christian hating atheist in your remarks.
I am a Christian. Please dont mock my beliefs. I dont mock your gross ignorance on some issues.
All the best, Ben
Ben I was extremely careful with the writing of this post. I think that Fox is smart to tap into the Christian market since it is underrepresented and booming, I said nothing about not wanting this in the industry, I simply poised questions about what kind of films will be Christian. Can you tell me exactly what part of my post you found mocking? I sincerly want to know.
P.S. I am not anthiest, I am agnostic. There is a difference.
Okay, here comes the atheist nut view point.
The people who are upset about this decision, who may call for a boycott, who are insulted in anyway…. SHUT UP!!!
It’s a movie, that’s all!! If you don’t like the idea, don’t go to see the movie. People are always suprised when I tell them I liked “The Passion of the Christ.” Why?! It was a well-crafted film (in fact better than Braveheart).
Will I go to see Fox’s Christian Films. I don’t know, they havn’t been released yet (Although if someone makes a film based on the “Song of Solomon” I’m there).
I remember the protests for “Monty Python’s Life of Brian” (which I consider the most realistic of all biblical films) and “The Last Temptation of Christ”. Religious people protested and called for a boycott without ever seeing the films (their loss).
I will not do the same.
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
Sharon,
“In the natural progression of all things evil there will now be a Christian division to News Corp Fox Filmed Entertainment.”
I may have jumped the gun in assuming you were suggesting that movies supporting Christian beliefs were supporting “all things evil.” It gave me the impression that presenting Christian points of view was silly/stupid/ignorant/horrible. I apologize if I came across as accusatory.
I get very very very defensive when Christianity is made out to look like a *bad* thing. It’s like when someone would trash your sister or mom. Except, its like people trashing the God whom I worship.
He is good. Hopefully these movies will reflect that.
After having re-read your post, I understand your point better.
All the best,
Ben
Will they make FoxBuddhist or FoxPagan as well?
hmm?
Herby…
If you think: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” I think you might be foolish. Don’t underestimate the fact that they can slip anything passed anyone, and you can’t do squat about it.
Case in point: A law was passed after 911 where they can seize everything you own, throw you in jail for an undetermined amount of time, without having any evidence. I could go on, but if they want it, they’ll pass it.
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(Type your comment here. Make sure you’ve read the commenting rules before doing so)I personally think it is wonderful idea and yes I would pay to see one. I’m a Born-Again Christian myself and a minister of the gospel. Actually, I’d love to produce or at least help produce, direct, and even write some myself, and act in them, if and when given the chance. I think you’ll see that it will more excepted than what you may think. After all, Jesus said ” I am the Way Truth and the Life, and that’s true life……In Christ. HE IS THE ANSWER TO ALL OF OUR PROBLEMS. Thank you and God Bless, and He will if you carry this plan out. Bryan K. Shaw Dallas N. c.