Today I got mad!
OK I tend to get a little passionate about how I feel about Christian movies. I just think that it would be better not to make them then to produce low quality crap. There are some great Christian movie/products that are innovative and do a good job. Veggie Tales is one of them.
Anyway today I saw an add on TV for the new Kirk Cameron movie called Fireproof. Now I will not bash on this movie because…
a. I haven’t seen it.
b. I try not to be negative.
c. I used to love Growing Pains.
I will say the add for this movie made me mad. The add said go see the number one Inspirational Film in America. Seriously? The movie opened in 4th place for the weekend with a total of almost 7 million $’s. I just hate that someone has turned a rather lousy opening for a film into a success story and they are trying to get me to go see it because it is the number one inspirational film in America. It’s basically saying that the best the Christian world can do is produce a 4th place movie and we are happy about that. I hope the movie makes lots of money and I will probably rent it when it comes to DVD, but don’t lower your standards so far that a 4th place finish becomes a selling point. Just my opinion.
Actually Rob, it wasn’t a lousy opening at all. Yes, it opened 4th over all, but do you realize how monumental that is? The top 3 movies in the country opened in no less than 2000 theatres a piece. Fireproof opened in less than 900. And it still made 4th in the entire nation. That’s incredible. Imagine if it had 2000. It is a very very good movie and our church members for one have benefited from it, and so have the firefighters we reached out to in the area!
Brian, thanks for the comment but that is my point. I wish that Christian movies would spend the money and get into the theaters and make the type of movies that compete with The Dark Knight. Christian movies get excited over what the rest of the world would consider OK? I’m not saying it’s not a hit for a Christian movie…I’m saying that I wish we wouldn’t get so excited about that. Case in point a few years ago the two biggest selling books in the U.S. were Left Behind and Harry Potter. That same year both books released movies. One went on to make over 300 million and produce a bunch of sequels the other made 4 million dollars and produced two direct to DVD sequels. Left Behind should have been a HUGE movie instead they settled. I’ve heard the message of Fireproof is really good. Yet instead of making it so that it reaches the masses we settle for reaching a few churches and Christians. The point is that for some reason Christians lower their standards so we are OK producing cheaper movies. I just wish Christian movies wouldn’t settle for cheap movies. Fireproof came out 4th in a low weekend for the box office. If it came out during the summer it wouldn’t have made the top 20. I understand it is a success for Christian standards…I guess I just don’t like Christian standards when it comes to movies.
I think that if more christians supported christian movies maybe they would be able to make better quality. The lines are huge for non christian films and how many christians support christian movies, music etc. just my take
Doubling Fireproof’s opening doesn’t get it out of 4th place. From what I’ve heard, it’s a good movie. I’ll definitely rent it, I might even go see it. But to call it monumental… that’s a bit of a stretch, there’s nothing monumental about that.
Christian products are typically so bad it’s very difficult to support them. I know it’s a generalization, but it’s true. I agree with Rob to a point. It is about money, but it’s also about a script. Actors and money can do a lot but if the script sucks (or product), no one will finance it and it’s doomed from the start. Make a better product that people will want.