Posted on 12/06/2006 7:45:53 PM PST by AngieGal
Hollywood will not make anymore religious films unless Christians go and see The Nativity Story in large numbers
That’s the view of its producer, Marty Bowen
By Dan Wooding Founder of ASSIST Ministries Poster for The Nativity Story
HOLLYWOOD, CA (ANS) -- Marty Bowen, producer of The Nativity Story which came in fourth in the weekend box office in the United States, is concerned that Hollywood will not make anymore religious films unless Christians now go and see the movie in large numbers.
Despite many good reviews, New Line’s The Nativity Story, the story of Christ’s birth, only took in $8 million in the United States from 3,183 locations to come in fourth, while, for the third week in a row, the No. 1 and No. 2 films remain Warners' Happy Feet and Sony's Casino Royale, respectively. Buena Vista's Déjà Vu also remained unchanged from its third place finish last week, netting an additional $11 million.
In an interview with ANS, Marty Bowen said he was disappointed with the fact that the movie only came in fourth.
“I thought it was incredibly disheartening for a variety of different reasons, not the least of which is you hear this common lament from moviegoers that America feels like Hollywood has lost touch with what they want to see. People feel like there is too much violence in movies and too much disrespect towards the family.
“Now finally a Hollywood studio has stepped up and put their money where their mouth is and has committed to making and releasing a movie, not on a couple of screens but rather on a very big very large fashion – more than three-thousand screens around the country -- and giving the audience what they say they want and yet that sense of urgency in that audience isn’t there to go and see it.
“What is disappointing is you hear people talk about how we can make movies better but if you don’t go see them when they are presented to you, Hollywood’s never going to do it again. And that’s what is frustrating to me because I changed careers to make movies that would inspire people and if there’s not a business for it, and I can’t find a studio to make the movies that I want to make, then that’s disappointing.”
Bowen, who was formerly an agent, went on to say, “Hollywood hasn’t made a Biblical film like this for decades. The Passion Of The Christ was one man’s journey and he [Mel Gibson] did a phenomenal job.
“I think what happens in a movie like this is that people say, ‘I’ll get to see the movie when I get around to it.’ What they don’t understand is that this is a business. These theater owners have a lot of demand for their screens and if a movie does not perform well on December 1st, despite the fact that it is the reason for this holiday season -- it’s the Christmas story -- it might not make it to December 25th, and that angers me.
“It just really saddens me that a movie that’s about the birth of Jesus may not be in theaters when that celebration of that birth takes place. And that’s really disappointing.
“People don’t seem to realize that when a studio commits tens of millions of dollars to make a movie they expect an audience to go see it; and if they don’t see it soon they’ll never be around to see it later.
When asked if he had a message to American Christians, he replied, “There needs to be a sense that, if what you want is to see films that are about faith and family and you want to light a fire under your neighbors to be inspired to live the life that you feel like is fulfilling to you, then you need to support films that have a similar message. If you don’t then you need to be ok with the idea that next year at the box office there’s going to be a movie about some guy cutting people’s throats around a Christmas tree.
“That’s the nature of the beast. It’s a sad commentary to me that when we considered the possibility of naming this movie Silent Night we couldn’t do that because that sounded like a horror film. That’s awful. So that’s why I put it [The Nativity Story] out there. You can’t wait to see this movie because you’re giving the wrong message to Hollywood.”
Bowen concluded by saying, “It’s not an effective argument, in my opinion, to wait around until Hollywood makes the decision for themselves and then, what they make is something you find morally reprehensible, and then you protest. To me that’s negative reinforcement. Positive reinforcement has always been more effective. If a movie speaks to what you want movies to be about than you need to support it or you need to shut up.”
So, what are you waiting for? Go and see The Nativity Story before it is too late!
Note: I’d like to thank Robin Frost for transcribing this interview.
I don't need Hollywood to make a movie, I've already read the Book.
I think plenty of people will see this movie and many other religious movies. I suspect someone is trying to get the numbers up by threatening that there will be no more.
Why should movies be the measure of anything?
If the whole industry died, big deal... regardless of what kind of films they produce. We'll survive somehow.
WAKE-UP CALL!!
Alright, fellow Christians, pony up for tickets or just shut up about Hollywood. We're going this weekend; when are the rest of you going?
I'm planing to see it for sure.
I have seen some excellent reviews.
Watch my movie or else? How about "Hey this is a really good movie"?
Didn't Mel Gibson make a successful religious movie? I heard that somewhere. Oh yes, Hollywood didn't have anything to do with it.
As usual Hollywood is short-sighted: if they judge the box-office of Christian-themed movies base on on that has elements offensive to Latin, Orthodox and even fairly traditional Anglicans and Lutherans, they are judging on the basis of a movie with only half the drawing power of The Passion or The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
(I'm still wondering if Hollywood will have the guts to finish the Narnia books faithful to the text--modulo the usual addition of 'cinematic' scenes--complete with Puddleglum's speech that rips the heart out of secularism and the veiled prophecy of a secularist-Muslim alliance in The Last Battle.)
Sure it opened in a lot of theatres but there wasn't a lot of advertising for it. That is way more important. Look at Borat opening in under a thousand theatres and being number 1, it was everywhere for weeks before it opened. Also The Nativity Story is getting bad reviews that never helps.
It's not whether you "need" the movie, it's whether there's movie fare out there that doesn't blaspheme/lampoon/trample or otherwise insult and pervert The Book.
I, frankly, LIKE to get out to a good movie, now and again, and I think it's GREAT that there have been a couple this year that are Biblically faithful; this one and "One Night With the King", which was quite good.
Apart from that, a good movie like this can be an evangelistic tool that you can employ with people who'd never darken the door of your church.
There are plenty of decent reasons to support and encourage this kind of filmmaking.
I saw it last weekend. I thought it was great. of course it is the Story we all know, but told from a different angle.
What is this? Blackmail of some sort?
It's not as if we are all thinking Oprah/Hollywood all day long. I never went to see the Passion, but I own it. I don't like filthy, dirty, germy movie theatres filled with people who have no manners.
End of discussion.. for me anyway
I saw this on Sunday, I really enjoyed it, too. Very well acted and great scenery. I found it very moving.
I went last weekend with the family. It's worth seeing for many reasons, but mainly because it's just a good movie I could take my elementary age kids to.
"I could take my elementary age kids to."
Having seen it, what would you say is the cutt-off age?
I've got wee ones and I'm not sure they could handle some of the parts I've heard about.
Wait, isn't the star, Keisha Castle-Hughes, an unmarried teen mom?
So she's in effect blackmailing us? If we don't watch her movie, there won't be other Christian movies?
I think that is a stretch.
Movie producers respond to numbers and money. If they get burned by this flick, they will be reluctant to try again.
I intend to see the movie. It wasn't made by that flake Mel Gibson - that's an endorsement.
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