The chairman of the Christian Film & Television Commission tells Newsmax that the current influx of Christian movies and TV series seems to be surviving the typical cycle in which such things tend to come and go.
While there has been a flood of Christian movies at different points in history, "the good news is that this time that cycle is very healthy," Dr. Ted Baehr told J.D. Hayworth on "America's Forum" on
Newsmax TV Tuesday.
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"We've shown Hollywood they can make more money by making movies with faith and values," Baehr told Hayworth.
"Every week about 140 million people go to church and only about 20 million people go to the movies, so this is a gigantic audience," he said. "Any other audience is much smaller than the church audience.
"Hollywood has discovered this," he added.
Veteran producer Mark Burnett has been behind some of the recent robust Christian programming, such as the 2013 hit mini-series "The Bible," which was then made into the 2014 movie "Son of God."
The sequel to that series,
"A.D. The Bible Continues," is set to be released on Easter Sunday on NBC.
"The good news is that Mark Burnett is a strong believer," Baehr said. "We've been with him several times, we've talked to him, and he's just a very strong believer and a good person."
Another popular genre besides Christian films, he said, are "pro-American, patriotic movies about individuals who fight against tyranny, socialism, and communism," such as "Captain America," "The Hunger Games," "American Sniper," and "Guardians of the Galaxy."
"The average patriotic movie did about $76 million at the box office, and the anti-patriotic movies did about $11 million," he added.
"When Sean Penn or George Clooney or whatever want to express their political values, they go out and make an independent film, and it bombs at the box office," he contends. "But if Hollywood wants to continue in business, it has to make movies with faith and values," which he says sell "six to seven times more at the box office."
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