For Religion or Money: Jesus on the Big Screen

By Jonathan Jones, AlterNet. Posted December 19, 2006.

This Christmas, Christ is back. And this time, you can experience the story of his birth as never before. That's the message foretold in New Line Cinema's $36 million film, The Nativity Story, which opened Dec. 1 in more than 3,000 cinemas worldwide. Although the film is supposed to remind us about the humble beginnings of Jesus, the real message behind the most expensive religious movie ever backed by a major motion picture studio is that there are huge profits to be made by producing wholesome films with Christian themes.

Hollywood Buys Into Biblical Blockbusters

The Hollywood film industry has a long history of finding salvation in faith-based movies, which dates back to 1923, when Cecil DeMille produced the pious epic, The Ten Commandments, in part to help the Hollywood film industry redeem itself from charges of immorality.

But ever since Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ grossed more than $370 million in its first year, there has been renewed interest in producing movies that appeal to conservative Christians.

"Christians go to the moves just like everybody else," said Charlie Nelson of Grace Hill Media in Valley Village, Calif., a public relations and marketing firm hired by New Line Cinema to market The Nativity Story to faith communities. "It's just that now movie companies are making extra effort to tap into that segment."

And these movie companies are working hard to do just that. They are buying advertisements on Christian Web sites and television stations, sending posters and cardboard stand-ups to churches, holding advanced screenings for pastors, and tying their movies to other merchandise.

A coffee table book presents exclusive photos taken on the set of The Nativity Story together with scripture from the New Living Translation. A novel based on the movie tells the story of Mary based on the screenplay. A film study guide provides avenues for contemplating Mary's journey of faith.

And, of course, there's also The Nativity Story: Original Motion Picture Score available on CD, The Nativity Story: Sacred Songs, a compilation of Christmas carols performed by popular artists, and a greeting card that will be available in Christian bookstores -- everything a Christian needs to celebrate the season. And perhaps most impressively, the film premiered at the Vatican and got several high ranking cardinals to give it two thumbs up.

"What's distinctive about this film is that it's the first feature film to premiere at the Vatican," said Paul Allen Williams, editor of The Journal of Religion and Film at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. "What New Line is trying to do is capture this segment of generally conservative Catholics and evangelicals. This is a very Catholic and theologically orthodox nativity story. This movie speaks volumes to those Christians."

And like The Da Vinci Code and The Passion of the Christ, churches are also using the movie to spark discussions about their faith, including at Harbor Light Church, a Pentecostal church in Fremont, Calif., where Pastor Terry Inman urges congregants to see the movie and then "come hear the messages" in his sermons on the Nativity.

Box Office B.S.?

But are religious-themed movies actually finding more favor with Christian audiences or is that just box office baloney from the religious right?

Despite an aggressive marketing campaign, The Nativity Story produced so-so returns at the box office opening weekend, an important gauge of a film's success. According to the Internet Movie Database (IMDb), The Nativity Story took in a humble $7.8 million opening weekend, a disappointing gross for any movie opening on more than 3,000 screens. Compared with The Passion of the Christ, which brought in $84 million opening weekend and has grossed more than $611 million worldwide, there is little reason to believe that The Nativity Story is in the same league.

David Bruce, an ordained minister and webmaster for HollywoodJesus.com, believes the rhetoric about the potential spending power of Christian audiences is exaggerated. He believes that the notion there is a lot of money to be made by producing wholesome entertainment with Christian themes is being generated by a vocal and organized minority that seek to promote a moralistic, Christian worldview with industry executives, commentators and the media.

"It's so bogus that you can make a lot of money at the box office by making moralistic movies," Bruce said. "That's a politically correct argument and it's what those in the religious right want us to believe. People like to see their sensibilities reflected in Hollywood, but I don't believe it."

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Jonathan Jones is a former religion reporter for MediaNews Group and is the son of a Presbyterian minister.