Newsbites: Niche! Morris! Manhunt!

Last updated on: September 23, 2005 at 2:42 pm by Peter T. Chattaway

Newsbites: Niche! Morris! Manhunt! 2005-09-23T14:42:00-07:00 Peter T. Chattaway

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Time for another round-up.

1. The stories about Hollywood’s efforts to appeal to the Christian niche market just keep on comin’. GetReligion.org links to a Wall Street Journal story on The Exorcism of Emily Rose:

The $19 million project is a hit in part because Screen Gems deliberately courted an audience that it might not have counted on for a typical horror flick: religious conservatives. . . .

Studio executives figured that horror movie-loving teens would flock to the picture, which stars Tom Wilkinson as the priest who is put on trial for allegedly causing the girl’s death and Laura Linney as the spiritually conflicted lawyer who defends him. But Screen Gems worked hard to attract a spiritually-oriented audience as well. It conducted an online poll asking participants if they believed in demonic possession (66% did) and issued a promotional mini-newspaper that reprinted articles from recent years about the Vatican’s views on Satanism and incidences of real-life exorcisms.

“We tried to get people thinking about the fact that this exists in the world,” says Valerie Van Galder, who handled the marketing of the film. “We tried to make exorcisms newsworthy.” . . .

Meanwhile, the Associated Press reports:

At some of the largest and most influential Christian churches in the country, the lights dim and congregants watch a sneak preview of a new movie about golf.

The Walt Disney Co. is marketing “The Greatest Game Ever Played” to faith-based groups even though the film, about Francis Ouimet’s improbable win in the 1913 U.S. Open, isn’t overtly religious.

“Its themes are about family, about not giving up on your dreams, courage,” said Dennis Rice, head of publicity at the Walt Disney Studios. “They are very secular virtues, but they also could potentially be Christian virtues.”

Other major studios have undertaken similar marketing for films that aren’t about God, including the recent father-son story “The Thing About My Folks” and even the dark drama “The Exorcism of Emily Rose.” Twentieth Century Fox has launched a Web site to market family-friendly videos directly to Christian groups. . . .

Studios said it’s hard to quantify potential revenue from the family-values demographic, but one industry analyst gave a sense of what’s at stake. Targeted marketing of this kind happens only if a studio expects to add $25 million to $50 million to the box office gross and sell perhaps an extra 5 million DVDs, according to Harold Vogel, who heads the New York investment firm Vogel Capital Management.

For their part, churches recognize that just denouncing violent or sexually explicit films doesn’t influence their content so their members are using buying power to support films that reflect their values. . . .

This last story is particularly interesting to me, as I recently caught flak from the higher-ups at one studio (which shall remain nameless) for actually mentioning the fact that their film was being niche-marketed to an interviewee whose only reason for talking to me was the fact that their film was being niche-marketed. I thought I was just stating a fact, but apparently it’s supposed to be more of an open secret, or an elephant in the room.

2. GetReligion.org also links to a very interesting A.V. Club interview with my favorite documentarian Errol Morris, which includes some fascinating anecdotes. For example, while discussing the editing of Gates of Heaven (1978), he says:

There was an editor who worked downstairs, doing mostly pornography. His name was David Webb Peoples. He’s subsequently become a famous scriptwriter. And Dave Peoples came up and looked at it. I had tremendous difficulty editing the movie, because there was no principle for editing that kind of thing. I don’t think that it’s even clear now how radically different that movie is from other movies. It involved these very strange dioramas, edited against each other. You can say it’s talking heads, but it’s not talking heads in a context where they’ve been stitched together by voiceover and various kinds of visual detritus. There was something extreme and radical about this material, and it wasn’t clear whether it was editable. And Dave Peoples said, “You know, I think it’s really terrific, but I don’t know how to edit it. I have no advice.” And he loved the movie, understand. Dave Peoples is a really good guy.

David Webb Peoples, of course, went on to write Blade Runner (1982) and Unforgiven (1992), among other films.

Then there’s this bit, where Morris discusses the ads he shot for MoveOn.org during last year’s election campaign:

I mean, I’m proud of having done those ads. I wish I could’ve done more. I wish the ads could’ve been used. I kept thinking that the only way ads like this could be effective was to just blanket the markets with them. You don’t show one person, you show 50 people. Make it seem as though there’s a bandwagon. And one thing that really interested me is, I shot evangelical Christians, and MoveOn didn’t even put those in the mix! For reasons that, you know… I’m speechless. It was assumed that you can’t touch evangelical Christians. “Oh, they’re the Republican Right. Stay away from those people. Don’t even try to talk to them.” Well, what’s interesting is that there were evangelical Christians who were voting for Kerry. There were right-to-lifers who were voting for Kerry. And it’s interesting to listen to the reasons why. To ignore that segment of the electorate is moronic. Particularly if you don’t know who those people are, or what their concerns are.

We imagine what this country is, but quite clearly, this country is a mystery. I mean, one of the reasons I did the ads is, I thought I could learn something. Like, what the hell is going on? I think anybody—particularly a person of leftist persuasion such as myself—who stops and thinks even for a moment, realizes that something strange is going on and we don’t quite get it.

3. FilmStew.com reports that Walden Media, the outfit behind The Chronicles of Narnia and the upcoming William Wilberforce biopic Amazing Grace, are dipping into history yet again for Manhunt — with Harrison Ford already signed to play Col. Everton Conger, the Civil War hero who tracked down Abraham Lincoln’s assassins.

FWIW, it occurs to me that, while Ford has made a number of films set in the past, I can think of only one other film in which he played an actual historical figure, namely K-19: The Widowmaker (2002; my review). Not sure if that means anything, but hey.

4. Reuters reports on the current state of the on-again, off-again Disney-Pixar relationship, and notes in passing that The Chronicles of Narnia will have its world premiere December 7 in London, with Prince Charles and Camilla in attendance.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

September 23, 2005

Flight Proof -- the reviews are up!

Next Post

September 24, 2005 Penguins and Oscar politics

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Anglican Planet Articles BC Christian News BC Report Bible Movies Bible Review Blog Books & Culture Campus Times CBC Radio Christianity Today ChristianWeek Essays Faith Today Festival Cinemas Guide Film Journals Georgia Straight Interviews MB Herald National Catholic Register Salvationist Today's Christian Two Chairs Ubyssey Uncategorized Vancouver Courier Vancouver Sun

Select a Month August 2025 April 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 May 2024 February 2024 December 2023 May 2023 March 2023 November 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 September 2019 July 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 April 2012 January 2012 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 November 2003 October 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 March 2002 January 2002 December 2001 November 2001 September 2001 August 2001 July 2001 June 2001 April 2001 March 2001 February 2001 December 2000 November 2000 October 2000 September 2000 August 2000 July 2000 June 2000 May 2000 April 2000 March 2000 January 2000 October 1999 August 1999 May 1999 April 1999 February 1999 January 1999 December 1998 November 1998 October 1998 August 1998 July 1998 June 1998 April 1998 March 1998 January 1998 November 1997 September 1997 July 1997 June 1997 April 1997 March 1997 February 1997 January 1997 December 1996 October 1996 September 1996 June 1996 March 1996 February 1996 January 1996 April 1995 November 1994 September 1994 September 1991

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

In Philippians, Paul mentions two women who need to be of the same mind. Who are they?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Mary and Martha Lydia and Chloe Euodia and Syntyche Phoebe and Priscilla