Ever since Twentieth Century Fox announced the formation of its FoxFaith division—catering primarily to evangelical moviegoers—and the subsequent failure of The Nativity Story on the big screen, some have wondered how to best go about marketing Christian-friendly movies, especially to churches.

FoxFaith thinks it has found at least part of the answer. Partnering with DirecTV, FoxFaith is offering free satellite TV connections to churches to give them the opportunity to screen upcoming movies in advance—especially those films FoxFaith has deemed Christian-friendly.

The FoxFaith website says: "We understand that as a pastor, there are movies out there that are in parallel with your value system that you may want to support, if you could only see the film before it came out in theaters. Together, Fox Faith and DirecTV have come up with a solution. We want to give you a chance to see the movie via satellite. If you are a church and want this, they will install a satellite system in your church for free and give you basic service for free as well. There are no strings attached. We believe this really solves the problem. After you have the satellite, we'll let you know when the Fox Faith screenings will take place and what channel it will be on. You will be able to view the movie before it comes to theaters over a virtual private network."

Ah, just what our pastors needed—free satellite TV with "no strings attached." We can't help but wonder how many pastors will think, Sermon prep? Bah! Why dig out my Greek lexicon when I can watch an advance screening of the next "Christian thriller"!

We hope such pastors don't exist, actually. (Hey, there are "Christian thrillers" aplenty in the Bible. Tell us about those, Reverend, not the ones on the big screen.)

We're not the only ones who are a bit jaded about this news. Peter T. Chattaway, one of our own freelance film critics, wonders on his blog "if FoxFaith will use this hook-up to promote only the specifically evangelical movies on their plate (Thr3e, One Night with the King, etc.), or if they will also use it to promote regular theatrical releases that they deem 'family-friendly'"—and he wonders just how far the slippery slope might go.

Meanwhile, Greg Linscott, a blogger at CurrentChristian.com, goes so far as to call the ploy a "bribe," and a blogger Movie Marketing Madness says this "egregious" marketing strategy will only bring people closer to Hollywood, not God.

It's not the first time DirecTV has gotten involved in "faith broadcasts." The satellite service also recently began showing Sunday Mass from Notre Dame every week. The masses are shown on DirecTV's channel 103, which also includes other Christian and family-friendly programming.

In other movie news:

Jim Caviezel reprises role of Jesus (Cinematical)
Passion of the Christ actor lends voice to audiobook

X-Men producer, TLN producer team up (Herald News)
Ralph Winter, Jerry Rose making films of faith

Dakota Fanning's Hounddog sparks controversy (LA Times)
12-year-old depicted in rape scene; observer calls it pedophilia

Apocalypto upsets Guatemalan viewers (Variety)
Gibson's latest causes uproar in largely-Mayan country

AFI revises its top 100 list (Associated Press)
Updated list of hundred all-time greats to debut in June

Pixar unveils new robot movie, Wall*E (Reuters)
Animation studio offers first glimpse of upcoming feature

In China, The Departed is deported (Associated Press)
Scorsese thriller banned, deemed inappropriate for audiences

Al Pacino to play Salvador Dali (Variety)
Actor reteams with Andrew Niccol for biopic

Paltrow joins Marvel's Iron Man cast (Hollywood Reporter)
Superhero film also starring Downey Jr., Howard

Sundance Film Fest gets under way (AFP)
Iraq, Katrina, environment on the menu

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