Tweet

EMAIL

PRINT

Comments (0)

Related articles and links |  1 of 8

(This article originally appeared in the September 21, 1984, issue of Christianity Today.)

Whether most Christians like to admit it or not, movies produced by the secular film industry have an impact on the church as well as society. A recent Christianity Today survey of readers' film interests and attendance shows that this former taboo is disappearing, particularly among younger Christians and members of the clergy who feel films help them stay in tune with contemporary life.

While many Christians lament what they discern to be ever-declining standards in films shown in the local theater, few know what, if anything, can be done to change the situation or affect positively the industry that is generally referred to simply as "Hollywood." Producer Ken Wales, an elder at Bel Air Presbyterian Church and a minister's son who has climbed the film industry ladder, recently spent some time with CT editors discussing motion pictures and the many questions that trouble Christians.

Wales studied film at the University of Southern California as recipient of the first Walt Disney scholarship. He began his professional career as an actor, and for many years was associated with writer-director Blake Edwards. He has produced numerous feature films, including The Tamarind Seed (Julie Andrews and Omar Sharifo and Wild Rovers (MGM; William Holden and Ryan O'Neal). He was also involved in producing the Ernest Hemingway story Islands in the Stream and Darling Lili, The Party, and Revenge of the Pink Panther.

In 1981 Wales received an Emmy nomination and the Golden Globe Award as coproducer of the television miniseries John Steinbeck's East of Eden. Most recently he was producer of the feature film The Prodigal for World Wide Pictures, film arm of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

Hollywood will not produce films for Christians because they think Christians will not go to films. How do you respond to Christians who say they are offended by films?
The film industry, in general, does not produce films on a large scale for special audiences. Filmmakers go after a story because it has several probabilities in it for success. which translate to economic gain. The elements for financial "success" include: (1) well-known, celebrity-status "star" actors or actresses; (2) "trendy topics," or a story based on a best-selling book, stage play, musical, popular person, or event; (3) a director with a high box-office track record—George Lucas or Steven Spielberg, for example.

Generally, a film has to return at the box office about three times its "negative" cost (the cost of making the film). The point at which profit becomes possible on a film varies, of course, with the negative cost of the film, and demonstrates the huge amount of money a film must "take in" at the box office to approach a profit level.

So you're saying that afilm Christians would like has little chance.
The box office history shows there must be a broader mass appeal to create a high ihonetary return to the studio. So, generally, Hollywood does not produce films specifically for Christians or any group.

Yet we do find films that contain certain elements that are "Christian." For instance, in Tender Mercies we have the character of a broken-down countrywestern singer who is taken in and befriended by a widow. She has a very strong faith, and sings in the local Baptist church choir. He becomes almost a surrogate stepfather to her young son, and he begins to attend church with her, more to please her than anything else, and becbmes more acquainted with the Christian faith. Later he says, "Yes, I want to be baptized along with the boy," and he is.

next page... |  1 of 8

September (Web-only) 2001, Vol. 45