Moviemakers target success

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    By Jennilyn Bylund

    Moviemakers have been targeting a Christian audience and some are seeing great success with the growing popularity of religious-centered films.

    The Gospel of John came out on DVD and VHS April 6 after showing in theaters beginning September 2003. The movie”s box office gross was slightly more than $4 million, according to Adherents website.

    Other popular Christian movies include The Omega Code, Joshua, Road to Redemption, The Passion of the Christ, Luther, and for the Christian children, Jonah: A Veggie Tales Movie.

    Distributors of Christian films, especially those independently produced, have also noticed the increase of movies aimed at the Christian audience.

    Bobby Downes, co-founder and CEO of ChristianCinema.com, based out of Visalia, Calif., distributes Christian movies to people all over the world.

    His organization began in 1999 when he saw a need for these films to be shared via the Internet. He said he views the effectiveness of a Christian movie by the amount of gospel content. He said he thinks Christian movies can be used as a tool, but Hollywood uses them for entertainment.

    Downes said he thinks ChristiaCinema.com is a great organization because it provides easy access to a wonderful message and helps reach a mass audience.

    “In our culture, we are a sight and sound generation,” Downes said. And movies are a great way to visually spread a spiritual message.

    Mac Baldwin, senior warden at St. Mary”s Episcopal Church, said when films are used to send a Christian message it”s wonderful because it helps people think, believe and feel the message.

    One specific Christian movie, The Passion of the Christ, has seen a lot of reaction.

    “I”ve had a lot of people tell me that it impressed them and inspired them and taught them a lot about Jesus and what his message is,” Baldwin said of the movie. “I think it”s a good thing.”

    However, not everyone views Christian films in the same light as Downes and Baldwin.

    “If someone is going to call a movie a Christian film, it needs to have a sincere message for Jesus Christ. That is the bottom line for me. I”m looking for message first,” said Dave Christiano, writer and producer of Christian movies.

    Christiano said he believes the target audience for Christian movies is not as big as everyone thinks. He said he doesn”t think this is a new trend at all. It”s just that the secular media is using it as one more way to make money in the business.

    Christiano said he thinks Time Changer is a Christian film because it actually talks about Jesus Christ. For Christiano, even if a film is religious, if it doesn”t talk about Jesus, it”s not Christian.

    “The religious audience is large, but the Christian audience is not,” Christiano said.

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