The call for film makers is a call of faith - they should be making the movies God is calling them to make and making them the way they sense God leading them to - when they do, as I know you know, you get some interesting films with reasonable budgets that touch hearts - Flywheel, Facing the Giants, The Perfect Stranger, the Moment After movies, etc. and they touch hearts for Jesus. Are they hugely profitable? I have no idea but somehow I just don’t see that as a part of God’s agenda.

While I love most of the movies coming out from the Fox Faith label they are blurring the lines about what kind of faith they are talking about - a faith in self or a faith in God - I love The Ultimate Gift but is it truly a Christian movie? Yes, certain characters reveal their faith but in the end its most about money. Amazing Grace was an excellently made movie but it was made more as movie with a social cause than about William Wilberforce and his incredible faith in God.

Let’s not forget:This is Twentieth Century Fox creating a smaller subtitled subcompany because they want to disntiguish their films and reach the religious market segment revealed by the Passion and the Chronicles of Narnia.

I think a greater concern I have that is reflective of the poor box office is that people don’t seem to place a value on tales that reflect morals and social concerns and courage and tough decisions apart from sex, language, technology and violence … look at what has been successful at the summer box office and see what it tells you about the values we now hold dear … or more specifically no longer hold.

Perhaps we will never make the kind of splash the blockbusters do each summer through a movie with a Christian theme - Passion was indeed a call to arms movie for the church.

But don’t belittle the impact the other movies are having in homes and hearts despite a lack of worldly success. What’s the story about the beach full of starfish and the little boy one by one picking them up and tossing them back into the ocean. And an old man stopped and asked him how what he was doing could possibly matter to all those beached starfish.

The little boy paused, picked up a starfish up and tossed it out into the waves and looked the old man in the eyes and said, ‘It mattered to that one.’ and I have to think God would say the same thing about every single person touched by one of the films of faith.

Thanks for the opportunity to share a few thoughts.

http://supercandid.blogspot.com/2007/08/unfortunately-we-got-scooped.html