Jesus Tagged Articles at Cinematical

In an attempt to grab a taste of every niche market out there, the Weinstein boys are looking to go where no Jew has gone before -- their forming a faith-based distribution label, and have partnered with Christian shingle Impact Entertainment on a first-look production deal. Yes folks, the Weinstens are on a quest to find Jesus in hopes the man will bring them lots and lots of money. Is it just me, or is this whole deal just a tiny bit odd? Then again, the Weinsteins are businessmen, and if there's a hungry audience out there, you bet they're going after them -- regardless of whether or not they celebrate Chanukah.

In a deal that's similar to the one they forged with Black Entertainment Television founder Robert L. Johnson (oh yes, the boys have officially gone urban as well), The Weinstein Co. will finance, co-produce and distribute approximately six theatrical titles per year, as well as a number of straight-to-DVD releases through their homevid label Genius Products. Oh, but they're not the first giants to jump into the holy water-filled pool, Fox has already announced their own faith-based division, FoxFaith, in which the studio will help distribute (but not produce) 12 films per year.

The first two theatrical gigs for TWC will be adaptations of The Penny, by Joyce Meyer and Deborah Bedford, and The Christmas Candle, by Max Lucado. Says Bob Weinstein about the deal, "This is a rapidly emerging and important area in the entertainment industry, and this deal fits perfectly into our strategy of acquiring and producing films that target niche audiences." I have no problem with that, so long as they eventually throw us Jews a bone too. Oh wait, perhaps that's asking a bit too much from a couple of boys named Weinstein. Oh well.

If this past weekend was any indication, people are a lot more interested in the death or Jesus than his birth. Or maybe they'd just prefer Mel Gibson's take on the classic story. Back in February of 2004 (Ash Wednesday, to be precise), The Passion of the Christ opened in theaters, and quickly became the highest grossing R-rated film in history -- it earned $25 million per day in its first five days. Of course, the built-in audience for this bad boy was massive -- not only in the United States, but worldwide -- and when it arrived on DVD on August 31, 2004, it reportedly sold 2.4 million copies by midday. There was controversy. There was buzz. And, once again, there was Mel Gibson.

Two years later (last January, to be precise), New Line acquired Mike Rich's spec script, Nativity, and vowed to have it in theaters by the following Christmas. Yes, for those who aren't aware, The Nativity Story (its current title) was thrown together in a little under a year -- from script purchase to finished product -- and was quickly released in 3,183 theaters last Friday. With Christmas only a few weeks away, you'd think this was the perfect time to release a film that revolves around the birth of Jesus, right? Wrong. The film took in only $8 million, the second lowest total in history for a film debuting on over 3,100 screens. But why did it tank? Bad marketing? Poor reviews? Were people too busy Christmas shopping? Was it because Mel Gibson and the controversy were absent? And why are people so afraid to promote a film whose story inspired the holiday they're about to celebrate?

So, I ask you: Why did The Nativity Story fail to put people in seats? And, on a more personal note, why didn't you go see it?

I was seriously wondering when this would happen. Weren't you? Sony Pictures' Screen Gems division is working on a film that continues the story of Jesus following the events in Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ. Wait, didn't Jesus die at the end of that? Yes, but according to The Bible he returned a few days after dying on the cross, and it is this resurrection that will be the focus of Sony's film, tentatively called The Resurrection. The script is written by TV-movie scribe Lionel Chetwynd and is being produced by Reverend Tim LaHaye, co-author of the Left Behind books.

From what it looks like, Sony is going for the gold in no-brainer, easy-money film production. With little more than a release date picked out (Easter, of course) and a guarantee that Christian audiences who stormed theaters for The Passion will be back for Jesus' return, the studio is likely already counting its profits. Since this isn't a real sequel (the first was released by Newmarket Films), it is doubtful that James Caviezel will be back (and after being struck by lightning during production of the first, he should want to stay away). I also will not be surprised if Resurrection is filmed in English instead of the ancient languages spoken in Passion.

Well, I can say one thing for the film, which should go all the way and use the title The Resurrection of the Christ, and that is it should bring about less controversy. With less finger-pointing and much, much, much less violence, it should be important and enjoyable for its audience. I'll just be glad to not have that lump in the back of my dry throat I experienced while watching Passion.

Reuters has an interesting piece up on a panel at the Tribeca Film Festival called "What Would Jesus Direct?" The gist of the piece is that Hollywood has long ignored the large Christian market, which The Passion of the Christ tapped into to the tune of some $370 million in the United States. Michael Flaherty, whose production company was behind The Chronicles of Narnia and Because of Winn-Dixie, two family films with moral messages underlying their entertaining surfaces, noted that people in the "faith community" are looking for films that are "uplifting." The article goes on to quote Jonathon Bock, head of a company that specializes in marketing movies to religious audiences, as comparing the potential for low-budget films with a faith theme -- "Godsploitation" films -- to films targeted at African-American audiences. 

• A glossary of movie terms created by Scary Movie 4's David Zucker and his crew. My favorite is "Schmuck Bait."
• Does critic Lisa Schwarzbaum always sit though the end credits of movies?
• New movies: they give The Notorious Bettie Page a B , while Scary Movie 4 gets a C , Hard Candy gets a B and Kinky Boots gets the same.
• New on DVD: instead of giving one overall grade to The Robert Altman Collection, they grade each movie individually. MASH gets a B , while A Wedding gets a C , Quintet a D, and A Perfect Couple a C . I haven't even heard of three of those movies (yes, I've heard of MASH).
• Dave Karger gives his Oscar picks for 2006: All The King's Men (Sean Penn and Jude Law), Dreamgirls, The Good Shepherd, Will Ferrell's Stranger Than Fiction, and The Good German. Soderbergh, Clooney, and noir? I am so there.
• An interview with Bill Paxton (including a "Must" list for his movies), and another chat, with Catherine Keener.
• So, who have been the best movie Jesuses anyway?