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This religious film opens nationwide on Friday and apparently my local theatre thinks it's going to be a hit, having booked it on two of their three digital projection screens (the other one is probably running My Best Friend's Girl). My question is why? It's just basically some low-rent, hamfisted religious film starring Kirk Cameron and directed by the guy who made Facing The Giants (which made $11 million which compared to the $100,000 budget was huge but that's small potatoes in Hollywood), another hamfisted religious film. And the neo-conservatives rarely go to the theatres (because most of them believe Hollywood to be evil) so why get two prints of a film that's probably not going to fill even one auditorium while shafting a potential blockbuster and two potential mid-sized hits from the bigger auditoriums?

But then again, the theatre makes all kinds of dumb moves such as pulling almost every single art or independent film after two weeks or less, never running any Judd Apatow films on more than one screen (however, Good Luck Chuck and Employee Of The Month got two screens on opening weekend) and cutting short bigger films while running lesser films for longer (for example, Expelled ran longer than The Forbidden Kingdom and Street Kings and Smart People were in favor of deep runs of 10,000 B.C. and Vantage Point, two films that couldn't have possibly been making more money by then). Hopefully when the area's third theatre opens in November that I can see all of the big films digitally (four screens will be digital). Same with the renovation of the other currently-open first run theatre planned for the Spring (eight digitial auditoriums and a new IMAX screen).

With Eagle Eye, Nights In Rodanthe and Miracle At St. Anna opening, the film will get annihilated at the box office. But also I was really hoping to see Eagle Eye and Miracle At St. Anna digitally but it looks like I'll be seeing them on 35mm because the only digital game in town will be two screens of Kirk Cameron and Dane Cook.

God I hate Wehrenberg and their inability to cater their true audience (which will be seeing Eagle Eye) instead of an audience that never shows up (the Bible Belt).

What do you think? Was Facing The Giants lightning in a bottle (like I think it was) or will Fireproof really be a hit like the theatre is expecting? I hope it flops since it's a narrow-minded film that only religious freaks could like and I want to see these religious films that actually tell a story that anyone could enjoy (like those epics they made in the 1950's and 1960's) instead of another ninety-minute "God loves you only if you vote Republican and hate everyone else" lesson with low production values and bad acting. And so Kirk Cameron will stop getting work because he never was a good actor.

Note to Kirk Cameron: you, not Leonardo DiCaprio, caused Growing Pains to jump the shark. You should have quit while you were ahead instead of making the Ponzi scheme that was Left Behind, which was simply created to get people to see it twice (once when they bought the tape, again when the film hit theatres so people could use the free tickets that came with the tape).

See: Proud American

I can't see this doing anything, my theater has had 3 free screenings in the last month. At this rate, everyone will have seen it already. Although Expelled was a huge surprise by getting into the Top 10 its OW. But as far as FM goes, yeah right.

I've never even heard of it. No, it won't do well overall, maybe at yours and a handful of small theatres.

Basically, religious organizations or churches can often pressure the individual theatre to do larger than usual runs (or runs where none was planned before) by commiting to bring church groups to the film. The same happened back in my hometown (very small theatre), 3 churches actually worked together and provided part of the cost to the theatre to bring the movie Time Changer in, and it stayed for more than a month. In a theatre with only 4 screens thats alot of screen real estate for a mostly unknown film, but it was basically garaunteed revenue as people were being pushed to see it during church and bible studies, etc...

Buscemi, judging an entire group like that is wrong. I know many church people that hate, but most of them--that I know--are at least tolerent (I hate that word) of other people. They vote right for the same reasons that the global warming and "meat is murder" crowds vote left, because their most cherished views and beliefs fit in with part of the doctrine of that side.

That said, those Christians that hate other groups are the reason I don't go to church.

Furthermore, as an amateur Economist, there are two things possible that are happening here:

1) The films are making money, so you shouldn't judge the theater for playing the movie just as you shouldn't judge an art house.

2) The Owner is a devout Christian. In this case, you should quantify the amount of cash its worth to him to play the movie and add it to what is made from it.

I have no doubt that he is practicing good business.

If it's a Wehrenberg it probably has little to do with the owner or manager and a lot to do with the company's booking office. It's the same thing with the chain I work for. My guess is, they're booking Fireproof because it's special 'alternative content' and is probably only being released digitally. So, the theaters with digital capability want to highlight that by booking something you can only see in digital. Sure, it'd be great to see Eagle Eye in digital, but you can see that at any ol' theater. In a way thinking like that makes sense, but it's also a bit backwards. It's the reason we were booked for Cirque du Soleil this summer -- and in the 4 shows we had, 4 people came. Woo-hoo.

By the presales at my theater i'd have to say it's looking a lot like expelled did. i think in the shadow of Eagle eye this would be lucky to pick up a few million and crack the top ten

oh and just so you know dranscht its being released in more that just digital theaters. My theater hasn't and probably wont ever show anything digital

LISTEN TO ME:

THIS FILM WILL DO WELL.

I can tell you that where I live, Facing the Giants was one of the biggest movies of 2006. Everyone here in Georgia is completely hyped up about this and it will handily have a solid run in theaters.

WHAT FACING THE GIANTS MADE... MINIMUM.

Buscemi wrote:

instead of another ninety-minute "God loves you only if you vote Republican and hate everyone else" lesson

I haven't heard a more narrow-minded statement in a long, long time. You haven't even heard of Christianity if you think that Christians hate everyone else. Anybody who claims to be a Christian but hates someone else is not a real Christian. And no, not all Christians vote Rebublican. I know a lot of Christians that vote Democrat. And proudly.

with low production values and bad acting.

As the church that made this said, they know their movies aren't Oscar-worthy. Dang, the movie's made from volenteers. Shut up already.

EDIT: By the way, last week on Fandango's Top 5 list, Fireproof was #3 behind Igor and Burn After Reading. Eagle Eye wasn't even on the list.

Yes, of course Georgians are somewhat hyped because it was produced here (in south GA). I'm in Savannah. I'm also Christian and have no intention of ever uttering the word, "Fireproof" at any box-office. Kirk Cameron? C'mon guys, you know the movie you laugh at late at night on TBN, "Left Behind", starring Kirk Cameron.

I looked at the Facebook page for the group and so many middle-aged Christians are looking forward to it. Last I saw, it had over 4300 members in the group. That's not that many in the grand scale of things, but still. Everyone I know that has seen the trailer has laughed. It's not even Hallmark material, but there's an audience, and that audience is middle-age suburbanites that are in the midst of a relationship that they need help with. I think a lot of us are that way, and this movie does provide faith, albeit not in the most subtle or natural of ways. It's not my cup of tea, but I'm not everyone.

By the way, turning $11M from a $100,000 budget must be big in Hollywood, their last 2 films have been picked up by a studio for wide release. "Facing the Giants" by Sony and "Fireproof" from Universal. Do you realize that's a 110x profit against its budget? Wow. To put that in perspective, "Dark Knight" is 2nd all-time in domestic box-office receipts and its profit ratio against its budget (not including millions spent on P&A) is 2.82x. I imagine the financiers on "Facing the Giants" (which was the south GA church) were happy with the turnaround on their investment.

J.I., around here is a little place called the Bible Belt. Some say it is the buckle. When I went to church in Springfield, Missouri (from 2000-2004 and again from 2006-2007), the main lessons were to hate everyone except other people from the same denomination and the same beliefs. They taught us to hate Jews, Catholics, Muslims, Hindus, atheists, agnostics, African-Americans, gays. Democrats, anti-war activists and anyone who didn't believe their morals. They spoke out against anything that was not religious (such as claiming that Hollywood, Time Warner-owned properties, metal and hard rock music and The Discovery Channel among other things were evil). They taught people to become a bunch of mindless drones (ala Jesus Camp but with Baptists instead of Pentecoastals). I would not conform to their empty morals and I would often get into it with teachers. I'd try to get help but no one would help me. The last straw was on February 2007 when I heard a teacher preach about pro-life after he told us not to speak about politics and having listened to racist remarks from another teacher. Needless to say, I never came back.

Since then, I've disassociated myself from the Baptist denomination, become friends with Jews, gays, atheists, agnostics and people of other religions and I've fallen in love with a Catholic girl. I feel like a new person since leaving the church by teaching myself the real things that God wants to do, like respect and acceptance instead of hating everyone and conforming to false morals.

Also after I left, I realized that Facing The Giants was a narrow-minded ripoff of Peaceful Warrior with different sports. Rent the latter and you'll see how it is more inspirational with less of the preachiness.

Has that church ever heard of the Good Samaritan? Or "love your neighbor as yourself"? Because thats a moral real Christians believe. I don't like it when a church causes people to not want to be Christians becuase they weren't acting Christian-like toward those people. But hey, none of us are perfect.

And Christians shouldn't hate atheists, just atheism. And so on with all of the others that you mentioned, except in the case of Democrats, African-Americans, and anti-war activists, because those have no contridictions to Christianity whatsoever, and I know a lot of strong Christians who fit into at least one of those catagories.

Not that I'm trying to start a big debate or anything.

J.I., i think you just implicitly said that christians should "hate" judaism (along with islam, hinduism, etc).. i'm sure i misread that

Oh man there is so much here to discuss but I am actually in a good mood today so I am intentionally ignoring the religious discussion.

And take it easy on J.I Joe guys. Remember he is only 14. He hasn't lived enough to hate everything on the scale that I do yet. Yet.

I'm pretty much with Donte on this one, not the good mood part ('cause I'm not), but I've been in this discussion enough to pretty much stay out of it. I will say that, in my experience, I've seen more of Buscemi's side of things...

Either way, in all likelihood it won't be a very good movie. I kind of want to picket it out front, the way I saw Marilyn Manson picketed years ago...

mfrendo wrote:

I'm pretty much with Donte on this one, not the good mood part ('cause I'm not), but I've been in this discussion enough to pretty much stay out of it. I will say that, in my experience, I've seen more of Buscemi's side of things...

Either way, in all likelihood it won't be a very good movie. I kind of want to picket it out front, the way I saw Marilyn Manson picketed years ago...

It's said that Christianity has become something dirty, I admit it. I am one, but I don't believe in hating anyone's beliefs, no matter what they believe. I've learned about loving unconditionally, especially when that means you want have that love reciprocated. I've grown up in the South all my life and can understand the narrow-mindedness Buscemi is talking about, but my travels have also led me to believe that racism, bigotry, etc. is everywhere, but it doesn't need to be in the church. I've also grown up in a Baptist church and I've been fortunate enough to really understand grace, love, and understanding. I hope you know that all churches aren't like the one you describe because just because they say they're Christian, doesn't mean they actually are.

Anyway, considering there's films specifically for all groups of demographics, I don't see any problem in allowing married Christian thirtysomethings have their film. You can't pay me enough to see it, but it's being pimped by the Christian right, and that'll get it a few million.

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