It had all the trappings of a made-for-TV movie: a former sitcom
star in the leading role, a Hallmarkian sentimentality, and a
direct-to-DVD budget. It’s the kind of project studio execs pass
on. They did, yet Fireproof raked in the money.
Fireproof is the third, and most profitable, film
produced by the Sherwood Baptist Church ministry in Albany,
Georgia. Its $7 million opening weekend launched the Christian
movie into the box office Top 10 with Shia LeBouf’s techno
blockbuster and Spike Lee’s newest joint.
Those are big-budget movies with Hollywood support. They come
tagged with superstar names and $100 million price tags. The
studios funnel even more resources into TV spots, billboards, and
other PR stunts. Those films are supposed to make millions of
dollars atop the box-office charts.
Fireproof, by contrast, was made for half a million
dollars by volunteers of the Sherwood congregation. Its
headliner, 1980s teen star Kirk Cameron, only received a donation
to his charity. And yet, its per screen average was a slim $200
lower than the chart-topping Eagle Eye.
The movie industry has fallen on relatively tough times. Ticket
sales fell over four percent from this time last year and prices
are up nearly 30 cents to compensate. But Hollywood hasn’t tried
to tap into the underserved Christian market. Bill Maher’s
Religulous rounded up kooky, bizarre, extreme believers
for an evangelical, three-ring circus. Maher and Larry Charles,
whose directorial portfolio includes the cynical satire
Borat, took a big-top approach to a topic mainstream
America holds dear.
Maher eviscerates truck-stop-chapel assembly, a Christian theme
park’s version of Mickey Mouse, and a Puerto Rican man claiming
to be the living embodiment of Jesus Christ. In other words, the
standard Hollywood stereotype of the religious right.
Religulous opened to moderate success. It brought in
$3.3 million over the weekend, enough to cover expenses and
squeak in at the bottom of the top 10. But Fireproof’s
second week beat out the establishment insurgent on its way to a
23 million dollar run. It’s just another in a long line of
independent, traditionally-themed flicks trampling their liberal
counterparts.
Similarly, 2007’s Golden Compass was supposed to be the
cornerstone of New Line Cinema’s trilogy of children’s fantasy
epics. Instead the film, criticized for being
anti-Catholic, bombed. It barely crossed the $70 million mark
at the domestic box office, froze production on any sequels, and
ended with the dissolution of New Line into the Warner Brothers
troupe.
Conservative billionaire Philip Anschutz succeeded where
Golden Compass stars Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig
failed. Anchutz’s Walden Media backed C.S. Lewis’ Christian
allegory, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, to a
$300 million blockbuster, a successful sequel, and a library of
follow-up material.
Traditional values sell at the theaters. The quirky pro-life
flick Juno drew $143 million on its way to critical
acclaim and an Oscar for best original screenplay. The
anti-Christian thrillers The Reaping and The
Mist only pulled together a combined $50 million. Add in the
anti-American flops Lions for Lambs, Sicko, Stop-Loss,
and Letters from Iwo Jima and you still don’t approach
the financial success of a movie that values family and life.
Hollywood executives can’t seem to wrap their heads around these
figure. Their biggest stars keep signing on for projects
insulting soccer moms and suburban teenagers who frequent the
movies. While mid-market and independent production companies
keep putting out successful films about faith and family, the
major studios pass on those projects and the millions of dollars
accompanying them.
THE STUDIOS PASSED on Tyler Perry too. In 2002 Perry, who made a
name for himself through stage shows about faith and family with
appeal to the black community, tried shopping one of his projects
around Hollywood. None of the major studios bit. One Paramount
Studios executive told him, “Black people who go to church don’t
go to movies.”
Somebody has to be watching Perry’s work. Both Diary of a Mad
Black Woman and Madea’s Family Reunion made over
$50 million. His most recent film, The Family That
Preys, cracked the $35 million mark. The movies are only
part of Perry’s family-friendly communications empire including a
TBS sitcom, stage shows, DVD libraries and a New York
Times best seller. Earlier this month, Perry made history by
becoming the African-American to run his own major TV and film
studio.
It’s the first step in a larger plan. In 2007 Perry told
Entertainment Weekly he dreams of owning a television
network, “where you can turn it on with your family all day long
and get positive reinforcement.”
Since Hollywood wouldn’t let him millions inside their system,
Perry did it on his own. They wouldn’t let him mention Jesus they
first time he was asked to do a TV series. Perry walked away. He
did it again when the studio executives offered to produce his
film, but only after their writers could come in and “clean it
up.” Perry stuck to his guns and made a fortune while Hollywood’s
polished, godless pieces sank.
By most critical accounts, Perry’s films aren’t any good. They’re
melodramatic fluff with characters and situations yanked directly
from afternoon soap operas. Limited budgets mean poor talent and
low production values.
But movies like Fireproof have proved critic-proof.
Luckily for the nascent faith-and-family film industry at the box
office it’s the receipts, not the critics, that decide success.
