Aug 30, 2014
The accountants in Hollywood don’t have to believe in heaven to notice the box office numbers on recent movies with religious themes. “Heaven Is for Real” opened in the days before Easter and grossed more than $22 million, coming in second for the weekend, just $3 million behind the latest “Captain America” blockbuster. The movie’s per-screen average – $8,895 – was far above the rest of the top five. “Heaven Is for Real,” like many movies, is based on a best-selling book. It’s a real-life story about 4-year-old Colton Burpo and his visions of heaven after an emergency surgery in 2003. Within three weeks of its November 2010 release, the book debuted at No. 3 on the New York Times best-seller list. Eventually, it made its way to No. 1. Box Office Mojo reported, “Sony targeted their marketing towards Christian audiences, and placed an emphasis on calling ahead for group ticket sales.” Stop the presses. Breaking news. There is a Christian audience, and it has wallets that open. This has happened repeatedly this year. It happened in mid-March, when “God’s Not Dead” opened at No. 4 with a $9 million gross, and then surprised the ticket-watchers by persistently drawing an audience, as it now approaches $50 million at the box office. This comes despite film critics trashing it, and one insisting, “Even by the rather lax standards of the Christian film industry, ‘God’s Not Dead’ is a disaster.” This was not a studio movie, but a production of the Arizona-based Christian company Pure Flix. At the center of the plot is a debate between a college philosophy professor and a freshman student over the existence of God. No, it’s not your usual popcorn fare, but there is an audience that surely enjoys the rare occasion of a script strongly striking back at Richard Dawkins and Charles Darwin, offering rebuttal to the usual atheist arrogance of most pop culture products. Interestingly, there is also this: In the corners of the plot are several Christian product placements — appearances testifying to Jesus by “Duck Dynasty” stars Willie and Korie Robertson, and the Christian-rock band, the Newsboys. Jesus sells. One can easily see how the word of...
