I remember in the weeks and months after The Passion of the Christ came out and made truckloads more money than anyone ever thought it could, how studio executives and marketing types in both the religious and secular film worlds kept talking about how to tape into the evangelical niche, how to employ a grassroots marketing campaign to the same effect as Mel Gibson's movie did– in fact, they're still talking about it even today. But there's a new little-Christian-movie-that-could in town, and I've been seeing more and more people talking about how to win over the evangelical market by following in its footsteps. That movie, of course, is Fireproof, a movie that you may have heard of. It's referenced in a New York Times blog entry this morning as "one of the biggest indie money makers of the year [2008]," but blogger Brooks Barnes predicts that its success may be matched by a film called C Me Dance, which he says is an "overtly religious film" that is "gathering momentum on conservative blogs."
Barnes proceeds to say that the film is "opening in about 200 theaters nationwide on April 3 and produced by Pennsylvania-based Uplifting Entertainment, is about a teenage girl who achieves her dream – joining the Pittsburgh Ballet – only to discover she has a rare blood disease. The girl and her father then embark on a spiritual adventure to bring revival to America."
The total cost of the film– including marketing– is noted to be half a million dollars, the same cost as Fireproof, which went on to make $33.5 million.
By the way, I'm pretty sure I can already spot the pun in C Me Dance's title, film unseen, and if I'm right, the filmmakers deserve either a special award or a scolding; I can't decide which.
But even if the film turns out to be as cheesy as its title sorta is, it's still worth noting that it has apparently had quite an effect on those who have seen it; the Leukemia Society, for example, is already endorsing it as a a meaningful and eye-opening movie.
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