With the recent announcement of Fox's faith-based film division, and new stories about the Christian movie industry in both Newsweek and TIME, evangelical cinema is receiving more than its share of publicity—and no film is being talked about quite so much as The Nativity Story.

Biblical scholar Anne Graham Lotz has seen the film and declared that "God's hand" is upon it. "I'd never really had any communication with Hollywood before this," said Lotz in Newsweek, "and my impression is that Hollywood doesn't quite get it when it comes to Christians. So I was very concerned about showing the movie to people before I'd seen it. I just didn't know what the finished product would be."

The film, which will premiere in the Vatican on November 26, has even won praise from non-evangelical audiences. Newsweek affirms that the film isn't "preachy," but is in fact a compelling drama. TIME calls it a "spare, character-driven retelling" of the biblical story, and also considers the recent boom in Christian film making—even renaming Hollywood "Holy-Wood."

Ted Baehr, chairman of the Christian Film and Television Commission, says "With the release of The Nativity Story, Hollywood is finally putting Jesus Christ back into Christmas."

The Nativity Story opens in theaters nationwide on December 1.

In other movie news:

Letters from Iwo Jima moved up to December 20 (Variety)
Eastwood's second WWII movie in time for Oscar noms

Academy announces contenders for Best Documentary (MCN)
Jesus Camp, Inconvenient Truth, Deliver Us From Evil on list

Dreamgirls premieres to enthusiastic ovations (Fox News)
Much-hyped Oscar frontrunner opens to raves

Wachowskis perform "emergency rewrite" on The Invasion (TMZ)
The Matrix directors lend a hand to Nicole Kidman project

Frisbee available to purchase online (official site)
Documenary about "hippie preacher" comes to DVD

Peter Weir to direct Shadow Divers (Empire)
Master and Commander director helms project on sunken U-boat

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