Christian movies to overtake Hollywood?

June 29, 2013 - by Martha R. Gore, Examiner.com

- Steven Spielberg recently warned members of the movie industry that there is an imminent "implosion" coming. Although he was talking about how expensive it is to attend a blockbuster movie, others believe that Americans are looking for productions that honor the importance of faith and family.

Some notable producers such as Steven Soderbergh and George Lucas agree that producers are finding it more difficult to get their movies into theaters and that it may be the end of Hollywood- produced films as an industry.

While Spielberg and the others may be talking about the high cost of producing block buster films, Soderbergh noted that cable television is more adventurous than Hollywood film. That may have been the most important statement as the men spoke to film students.

Of the three men, Soderbergh may have been closer to reality although he left out one important fact: movies with at least some faith and family content have grown from from 10.38 percent to 58.90 percent of films marketed to families while the others types have only grown from six percent of the market to 30 percent.

It appears that Actress/Producer Roma Downey and her husband, Producer Mark Burnett, speaking at a Variety sponsored event, are more finally attuned to the growing number of viewers with evidence that faith and family can attract large audiences. When the History Channel showed The Bible it drew 100 million viewers. The team is now working on a two-hour movie based on the Jesus portion of the miniseries.

According to Dr. Ted Baehr, the founder of Good News Communication:

The heightened interest in producing faith and family based movies and television programs is a dream come come true, but it took a lot of years, a lot of prayer, and a lot of work. God made this happen.

He told attendees at the conference

...movies with strong Christian redemptive content and values make three to six times as much money as movies with graphic or immoral content and values.

Dr. Baehr's words were backed up by Walmart's Chief Marketing Officer Steven Quinn who noted that

...98% of Walmart's 140 million weekly customers want safe family programs.

He quoted studies that show

... viewers who watch positive family-friendly programs are 30% more likely to remember the ads during that program, but viewers who watch programs with lewd or violent content are 20 percent less likely to remember the ads.

According to Daily Variety Hollywood and the mainstream press are finally honoring the importance of faith and family in a public way.faith and family based producers such as Downey and Burnett.

Perhaps Spielberg and Soderbergh may yet save the Hollywood movie industry by following the lead provided by the Christian and faith based producers such as Downey and Burnett.
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