Christians in Cinema

A recent article on Christian Post highlights a new twist on marketing films to faith audiences. Christian film pioneer Rich Christiano is releasing his new film The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry on September 18, but he’s not scheduling the theaters. Nor does he have an employee, associate, or PR firm handling it. Instead, he’s relying on churches to partner with him to bring the film to their cities.

You’ll remember when Facing the Giants and Fireproof came to theaters, the marketing team challenged communities to form action squads in markets where there was no theatrical opening scheduled. Groups taking the challenge had only to guarantee the sale of at least 1000 tickets to bring the film to their area. In many places, that meant churches buying out theaters and promoting the film from the pulpit.

Rich’s twist is that, instead of asking churches to guarantee 1000 tickets sold, he’s asking them to invest a sum of money up front to bring the film to a local theater. At that point, Rich and his team will take care of the logistics of securing the theater, providing publicity materials, and getting the film to the theater. While the church will be expected to promote the film themselves, he’s not relying solely on that. He is advertising heavily on TBN, and hoping for publicity through television and radio appearances by himself and Gavin MacLeod (Time Changer, The Love Boat), the star of the film.

Once a theater is secured and the film begins showing, the marketing partners will receive back their initial investment plus a share of the proceeds, which they can designate for whatever ministry they choose. At this point, he has about 100 churches and groups committed to this partnership.

He’s hoping that the grassroots marketing that worked so well for Facing the Giants and Fireproof will work for his film. Set in 1970, it’s the story of a 75 year old man named Jonathan Sperry (played by Gavin MacLeod) who starts mentoring three 12 year old boys. Rich believes this inspiring, heartfelt movie will motivate all who see it. This film has something for everyone from ages 8 to 80.

It’s an interesting twist on the whole grassroots marketing campaign premise. Will it be easier for churches to spend $2000 than guarantee the sale of 1000 tickets (which could be more than $5000)? And once in theaters, will the film have the staying power of recent grassroots success like Fireproof and the hit pro-life film Bella? Last year’s Billy: The Early Years tried the same type of model but failed at the box office, though probably due more to the lack of support from the Graham family than anything.

It is an interesting model, and by giving the market selection to the population that will want to see the film, theoretically, Rich is setting up his film for success at the box office. Can he sign up enough churches and groups to bring his film to a significant number of theaters? And will using the same release period as Sherwood Pictures’ last two films (the next-to-last weekend of September) help the film?

Students of grassroots marketing keep your eyes on this plan. You may want to add it to your playbook.