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'Left Behind' Ignores Theaters
The third movie based on the "Left Behind” series of novels about Armageddon and the Second Coming of Christ is opening on 3,200 screens across the U.S. – not one of them in a commercial theater. Instead, "Left Behind: World at War” will be shown exclusively in churches. More than 70 million copies of the novels by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins have been sold, but the previous two "Left Behind” movies flopped at the box office. So this time, Sony Pictures Entertainment – which has underwritten the film – has decided to forgo a regular commercial release and instead rely on the movie’s Christian theme to attract viewers in churches.
Story Continues Below "Marketing executives say the decision is part of a major trend,” the Washington Post reports. "The entertainment industry has discovered there is ... product-moving power in selling movies, books and music through churches - particularly the suburban megachurches that draw thousands of well-heeled worshipers.” Twenty-five years ago, there were fewer than 50 churches in the U.S. that attracted more than 2,000 people each week. Today, there are more than 1,200. Many have professional-quality sound systems and large-screen projection systems. "We want to show Hollywood that there are enough people in the churches to support good, wholesome entertainment without all the blood and guts and sex and vile language," said Rev. Richard Edgar of the Reality Gospel Church in Alexandria, Va., who is showing the movie. Last year, Mel Gibson previewed "The Passion of the Christ" to religious audiences to build positive chatter in advance of its opening in commercial theaters. "With 330,000 churches in America, it's potentially the largest distribution network in the country and probably in the world," A. Larry Ross, president of a Dallas public relations and marketing firm with many evangelical Christian clients, told the Post. "World at War,” produced by Peter and Paul Lalonde, stars Academy Award-winner Louis Gossett Jr. as the American president facing a world government headed by the antichrist. It’s the first film by the Lalonde brothers' independent production company that has been fully underwritten by a major Hollywood studio. The Lalondes don’t anticipate suffering financially by ignoring commercial theaters. The reality of the movie business today, Peter Lalonde said, is that "80 percent of studio profits come from DVDs," and theater showings are a loss leader that builds word-of-mouth to drive the DVD sales.
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