Posted on 02/25/2004 8:16:07 AM PST by Antiwar Republican
We are hearing anecdotal evidence from around the country that a massive audience is developing for The Passion of the Christ consisting of, in some cases, traditionalist Christians who have not been to a theater in decades.
In the suburbs of Seattle, Washington, an 85-year old retired aerospace worker who rarely attends movies and whose last foray to the Cineplex was to watch the Omega Code five years ago is ready for a return visit.
In Dallas, a 78-year-old social worker who last visited a movie theater in 1985 is also eagerly anticipating her return to her local theater.
And in the suburbs of St. Louis a 70-year-old teacher who has never never been inside of a movie theater is making her plans to attend her first movie ever Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ.
Why? Because for the first time in history and in a manner and scale only hinted at by films like The Omega Code and Jonah: A Veggie Tales Movie, a film has finally emerged that has five key ingredients: Star power, mainstream credibility, controversy, wide simultaneous release and deep resonance with traditionalist Christians.
When the dust settles after March 1, many of the rules of the filmmaking business may need revisions. For the first time, the industry will realize the profits that have been forfeited over the years by creating films that were out of sync with the interests of the citizens of the red states. In a post-Passion world, whoever figures out as Gibson apparently has, how to consistently tell stories that appeal to the heartland will be the beneficiary of the wellspring of affection Gibson's film has generated among people traditionally hostile to Hollywood.
Some felt that the 1988 film The Last Temptation Of Christ taught the filmmaking community that controversial and divisive topics shouldn't be addressed by filmmakers, but the opposite appears to be true. As the response to Gibson's film is proving, controversy alone sells a certain number of tickets, but the nature of the controversy and the quality of the film itself is crucial to widespread success. Scorsese's film was so deeply offensive to the values of the heartland that one Christian leader tried to buy the print so he could destroy it. Gibson's is so widely lauded by the same groups that it may be difficult to buy a ticket opening week.
The film business will continue with or without the evangelical Christian audience that will be coming out in massive numbers this week, but if the desire is for profits, this constituency which makes up roughly 40 percent of the U.S. population is ignored at the film business's own peril.
While early box-office estimates have predicted a $30 million opening, these surveys are misleading for they focus on traditional filmgoers. What the surveyors have missed is a massive tidal wave of fundamentalist and evangelical Christians and traditionalist Catholics, some of whom don't ordinarily attend films. It is quite possible that rather than a $30 million opening that is forecasted, we may instead be looking at a five-day opening weekend north of $70 million.
This would of course be uncharted territory and an opening of the magnitude that we are seeing may fundamentally reshape the nature of the movie business when the final numbers come in. When and if that happens, the rush will be on to find out how to keep this audience coming back.
Ralph Winter is the producer of X-Men I & II, The Planet of the Apes, and Hangman's Curse. Mark Joseph is the author of the forthcoming The Passion of Mel Gibson: The Story Behind the Most Controversial Film In Hollywood History.
"Passion" will win no awards from Hollywood.I have a hunch it will win best foreign language film.
If Gibson made such a movie, Abe Foxman would criticize it as mentioning Josephus too much, and portraying him as disloyal to Judaism. It would therefore be an anti-Semitic movie by default.
I think you are missing the main point.
I enjoy movies, but I have not been inside a theater since Roger Rabbit.
I do however buy movies in DVD format. Most of the movies I buy are from the early 60s, the 50s and before.
Back when a story was told, you knew who the good guys were and the bad guys failed in the end.
Also, the language was such I would not be ashamed to play the moview with my Mother in the same room.
Some of today's movies sound interesting, but for some reason the people who make these movies seems to think the characters must talk like longshoreman on the docks.
And as for sex, some of the sexiest movies ever made were made in the 30s and 40s where they had to get creative to imply what was going on. Do we really need a biological lesson during a movie.
Yes I am old, but I do have some disposalble income, and would be willing to spend some if the product was any good.
I think the point of this article (which is the same one that Medvid has been pushing) they will make more money by making movies for middle America rather then their friends in New York or San Francisco.
The American people will take care of that. I'm sure "Passion' will win best picture at the People's Choice Awards. They have given Mel a couple of Best Actor awards when the Oscars didn't even nominate him. I have never voted for the People's Choice Awards before, I just didn't care about it. I will vote this year, for sure!
What's wrong with that? He's entitled to his opinion.
Who knows? But I suspect it will be a big hit in Italy, and I think it will do well in other European countries as well. I think it will lead to a huge resurgence in the popularity of Jesus throughout the world. I am not a Christian but I love Jesus and have long been fascinated by the historic Jesus.
It may create a veneer, or an appearance of morality, but Hollywood will never be a moral place.
Don't know the last time you were there, but France is among the lowest in church attendence in the world. Many churches are nothing more than museaums there. Spain and Italy are only stronlgly religious in certain regions (for example, the Basque Country is strongly religious, the city of Madrid is not). The movie will be highly successful in the Phillipines, perhaps the most devoutly Catholic nation on earth.
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