Fox Faith - Movies for Christians a Good Business Model? -  1051 days ago

 

Fox Faith logo (from www.wikipedia.com)The FoxFaith brand has been blamed for the weak turnout for The Ultimate Gift. Rightly or wrongly? I don’t know. In this article in Christianity Today, there a quote from Phil Cooke that basically says Christians can’t be pigeonholed into a particular genre or type of film that they all like:

The Passion of The Christ, which pretty much set this ‘faith-based’ fascination off in the minds of Hollywood, was a traditional story of the Passion, Crucifixion, and Resurrection. It told a story that the main thrust of the Christian community can agree on, and as a result, hit the box office jackpot. But once you drift from that central story that is the core of our faith, all bets are off…From a branding perspective, we live in an era of niches, and the truth is, the ‘Christian’ audience is too large to effectively brand as a whole. Whatever happens, Fox Faith represents the first serious effort of a major Hollywood studio to recognize, respect, and try to reach a Christian audience. While the marketing and branding strategy will no doubt continue to be adjusted and tweaked, other studios will follow in their path.

For those that aim to make movies that share truth to the Christian market (ie, Between the Walls or Facing the Giants), money can’t be the sole object. For those that seek to make money from the Christian market – well, it might not be a profitable venture. I think a better plan for profit is to produce good stories from a Christian worldview for a mass audience rather than just for Christians. Should that be the goal of the Christian filmmaker? What do you think?

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