Tony Evans, one of the most prominent black pastors in the country.
Indeed, “War Room” gained a powerful ally after the Kendrick brothers decided to cast Priscilla Shirer - a daughter of the Rev. That success is a sign, some analysts say, of the increasingly tight relationship between popular church pastors and Christian film producers. Alex Kendrick’s third feature, “Fireproof,” brought in almost $33.5 million, making it one of the highest-grossing independent films of 2008. Last year’s “God’s Not Dead” had an estimated budget of $2 million and earned almost $61 million. That phenomenon is similar to what other independent Christian films have experienced. But it made $11.4 million in its opening weekend, nearly four times the cost of creating the movie and well beyond the expectations of most movie analysts. “War Room,” which tells the tale of an affluent African American couple turning to prayer and faith in Jesus to save their marriage, hardly earned blockbuster dollars. But in the past few years, a slew of independent, celebrity-less movies - made by evangelicals for evangelicals - have been turning heads by earning unusually large profits while operating outside the Hollywood establishment. Major studios have long known that religious movies and television shows can be a rich business and have put out faith-based spectacles, including “Ben-Hur” and Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ,” as well as recent special-effects-laden films about Noah and Moses. African Americans made up 38 percent, according to Rentrak. The independent Christian film’s mostly black cast - a choice that one of the writers said came to them during a prayer session - was echoed in the demographics of last weekend’s audience. In turn, the ministers - from tiny churches in rural North Carolina as well as large faith organizations such as the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, Family Life and the Southern Baptist Convention - began pushing the film on social media and in their Sunday sermons, many of which are broadcast widely on the radio and in podcasts. Those religious leaders were given rough cuts - overall, about five drafts of the movie - and each time offered feedback and edits to the film’s writing duo, brothers Alex and Stephen Kendrick. “War Room,” a movie beckoning audiences to prayer, nearly topped ticket sales last weekend even though its release was limited to a relatively small number of theaters.īehind the film’s popularity was a deepening partnership between the filmmakers and a network of influential pastors, which delivered millions of viewers without the need for Hollywood’s typical promotion vehicles of expensive TV ads and global media tours. In a year of great box office triumphs, a low-budget movie with an African American cast and overt Christian teachings has emerged as a breakout surprise.
0 kommentar(er)
