25th February, 2013
Moviegoers prefer movies with Christian, redemptive values, reveals an annual study of box office figures among the major movies produced by Hollywood.
According to the 2013 Annual Report to the Entertainment Industry by the Christian Film & Television Commission, an advocacy group in Hollywood, movies with very strong Christian, redemptive worldviews reflecting traditional moral values earned four times as much money on average as movies with very strong non-Christian, anti-Christian, or mixed worldviews, $US90.78 million versus $US20.22 million.
Movies with very strong humanist or atheist worldviews fared even worse, making only $US2.43 million per movie.
Also, the stronger the Christian/Redemptive worldview, the more money the movie made.
The movies with very strong Christian, redemptive worldviews includes such movies as Les Mis‚àö¬©rables, Snow White and the Huntsman, Here Comes the Boom, Red Tails, Marvel”s The Avengers, and For Greater Glory.
Movies with very strong non-Christian, anti-Christian, mixed, or humanist worldviews included 21 Jump Street, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2, Amour, A Royal Affair, Killer Joe, Magic Mike, Dredd, Cosmopolis, Cloud Atlas, God Bless America, Paranormal Activity 4, The Apparition, The Campaign, Rock of Ages, The Dictator, That”s My Boy, The Cabin in the Woods, American Reunion, and Promised Land.
The same thing was true at the international box office in 2012, and on home video, announced Dr. Ted Baehr, founder and chairman of the Christian Film & Television Commission.
For example, of the pop 10 movies overseas in 2012, 90 per cent had a strong or very strong Christian, redemptive, moral worldview with Biblical content or values, earning $US5.281 billion out of $US5.795 billion, or 91 per cent of the total overseas amount for the top 10!
Also, 72 per cent of the top 10 home video sales in 2012 had either strong or very strong Christian, redemptive, moral content with Biblical faith and values.
2012 wasn”t the only year that movies with very strong Christian, redemptive worldviews made the most money. A 10-year study shows that they averaged $US73.27 million per movie from 2003-2012 versus only $US21.01 million for movies with very strong non-Christian, anti-Christian, or mixed worldviews.
“Filmmakers need to make movies that overtly reflect the faith and values of Christians,” Dr Baehr said. “Hollywood and the mass media cannot afford to ignore Christianity or the Word of God, the Bible.”
He pointed out that more than three quarters of Americans (about 237 million people), and 2.3 billion people around the world, belong to the Christian faith.
Dr Baehr presented highlights of the 2013 Report at the 21st Annual Faith & Values Awards Gala held on15th February at the Universal Hilton Hotel in Hollywood.
– DAN WOODING
ASSIST News Service
