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Friday, September 15, 2006

Upcoming Films for the Religious Audience

Take a look at Facing the Giants and Conversations with God.

I'm not criticizing the release of these films, but it does feel like a change. They'll likely be distributed arthouse theatres, bringing in a different audience than "traditionally" comes in. Both are distributed by the Samuel Goldwyn Co., which seems to bring a wide range of voices to the screen. They also released the highly controversial What the Bleep Do We Know?, a film about the "spiritual" side of science, which drew protest from the mainstream scientific community, and the more recent hit, The Squid and the Whale. When I say "wide range of voices" - take a look at Bobcat Goldwhait's Sleeping Dogs Lie.

There is a large perception that Jews and Liberals control Hollywood. Samuel Goldwyn, in fact, was one of the many jewish men pointed to in order to prove this.

It seems to me that the media follows the money. There is an audience for everything. "Passion" and "The Chronicles of Narnia" proved that there is a large Christian audience. I wonder if these films, which were picked up by the Goldwyn Co. at festivals and the like, were responses to that. Variety has this article on how these new niche markets are shaping up.

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