HOLLYWOOD, CA (ANS) -- The movie “Bella” is blessed. Not only did it win against all odds the Toronto Film Festivals People’s Choice Awards, it also exceeded all box office expectations by having one of the two top per-screen financial averages for its opening weekend.

On its second week in release, “Bella” had another strong weekend with very little advertising. “Bella” generated over $1 million in box office again and had the third highest per screen average of films on more than 100 screens, behind only the 2 weekend powerhouse releases of “American Gangster” and “Bee Movie.” “Bella” also maintained its Number #1 ranking on Yahoo (“American Gangster” is Number 2) and on the Fandango and Rotten Tomatoes Fan Sites.

The team behind “Bella” listened carefully to the advice of those people of faith and values involved in the entertainment industry for a long time (including yours truly). They put time, money and energy into raising awareness for the movie without spending the $34.5 million that Hollywood usually pours into marketing. “Bella’s” success is unique because many small, independent, faith-filled movies have crashed at the box office. For instance, for their first weekend, “The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising” earned about $1,200 per screen and “Final Season” earned about $650 per screen, whereas “Bella” came in at about $8,000 per screen (anything over $4,000 per screen is good).

There are many lessons here, but a few of them will help others produce successful movies.

The most important consideration is that at least 150 million people go to church every week in North America, but most of the current Hollywood marketing aimed at reaching the church is oriented toward the two million or so Christians who tune into the electronic church. If a movie is going to succeed at the box office, then the marketing has to go beyond the few Christians who listen to Christian radio, television and Internet. This takes work, but not as much work as many people in marketing in Hollywood think.

The next point to consider is that emails can help market a movie, but relying primarily or exclusively on emails is unwise. There are numerous reports of email churn, faulty emails and the ineffectiveness of emails. Emails must be set up to give the response back to the production and distribution entity so that they can track the names. In essence, emails can help augment a good campaign, but they seldom have the influence to drive an audience to the theater.

A more difficult problem is the significant number of Christophobic people in the entertainment industry who would like to see movies containing faith and values bomb at the box office and who often work against the marketing of worthwhile faith-filled movies. For instance, one faithful family movie last year was so good that we honored it at our Annual Awards Gala. When we asked for a DVD for our judges to review, we were told that the studio did not give out DVDs. Since we had already received DVDs from the same studio for other movies they were interested in promoting, it was clear that there was resistance inside the studio to MOVIEGUIDE® honoring this particular faith-filled movie that was produced and funded outside the system.

The extent of the opposition in Hollywood against Christian movies is more profound, broad and deep than most people imagine. The best way around this problem at the studios is to not only make sure your distribution team contains people of excellence but also people of strong Christian faith and values. The success of “Bella” and “Facing the Giants” shows that this can be done.

There are four keys to success in the Christian market.

DON’T THROW THE CHURCH A BONE, SERVE A FEAST

Don’t bother with a “church marketing” campaign for a movie that is not filled with worthwhile faith and values. If you want to make a movie for the Christian market, submit the script to the Christian Film & Television Commission® before you make the movie and ask for an analysis of the movie’s appeal to the Christian market.

MOVIEGUIDE® honors movies that have Christian content even if that content is only a minor element in the movie. MOVIEGUIDE® commends moviemakers whose movies uphold biblical values even if they don’t openly mention the Bible. Most of these movies are aimed at the general market, and MOVIEGUIDE® encourages Christians to support them. But, if you’re making a movie primarily for “the church market,” make a movie where the whole purpose of the movie is to honor God and His son Jesus Christ.

Alex Kendrick’s first movie, “Flywheel,” is about as amateur as you can get and still be shown in a movie theater, but the heart of the movie is so pure it would appeal to Christians far more than many multi-million dollar Hollywood productions made for “the church market.” Kendrick’s movies honor God and delight Christians because they are not afraid to feature someone on their knees in prayer and they openly include Scripture reading. The “Christian market” likes this because they DO this. To them it is real life. If you want to be “real” in a story about Christians, you need to show them looking in their Bible for answers to problems. You need to show them praying. You need to show God answering prayer. To Christians God is REAL. He is central in their understanding of life. Do Christians struggle with all manner of problems? Yes. What do they do? They turn to God for help. Do they get help? Far more often than you would ever guess by watching most movies.

DON’T USE A SURPRISE ATTACK, EARN AN AUDIENCE

Christians go to church on Sunday (sometimes twice), Wednesday and special events. They go to practices or volunteer work other days of the week. Even if they don’t do all of the above, churches find ways to keep their people very busy. If you want Christians to see your movie on opening weekend, you must get on their schedule. To be a blockbuster Christian movie, you have to attract people who don’t often put “go to a movie” on their schedule. You need to convince them months in advance that your movie is a Christian event.

Opening day for “The Passion of the Christ” was on a lot of Christian’s schedules. It was even in church bulletins and most of those are planned a year in advance. Therefore, the release of your movie needs to be seen like a Billy Graham Crusade coming to town. Christians need to know in advance, from trusted sources that your movie is worth their time, their travel and their money to see. It takes time and work to build word of mouth BEFORE opening day.

You cannot just send out emails on Thursday to 100 million Christians and let them know a movie they “might” like will be opening tomorrow. They’ll want to hear from someone they trust “This is a great movie. You have GOT to see it.”

Christians are a diverse bunch. Each denomination has its distinctives, and each preacher has his own following — some large, some small. The more endorsements and “buzz” you can get in the months leading up to opening day, the better.

The new Hollywood faith divisions have made some nice Christian movies but they have not been strong enough to cause pastors so say, “You have GOT to see this movie. It’s amazing.” You will not get the Christian “buzz” you need for a $300 million box office if your movie is not amazing. You will not get the “buzz” you need for a $30 million box office if a spectrum of Christians are not willing to say, “I liked it. You might like it too.”

BE WISE, DON’T BE OFFENSIVE

Please consider how Christians think before you release a movie you hope they will go see. The movie “The Last Sin Eater” contained a powerful message of salvation and truly honored God, but the title would fit nicely in a list of the year’s worst horror shows. When recommending the movie to others, they look at you in disbelief that anything with such a title could possibly be Christian.

I’ve heard of people who want to make a Christian vampire movie. Don’t bother.

Other people think they can make a movie with Hollywood-style foul language, sex, violence, and gore, end it with a salvation experience and attract millions of Christians. This is NOT wise. If you had to swim through a sewer to get to a gourmet restaurant, would you recommend it to your friends?

Twice I’ve had someone ask me to review a DVD of their “Christian” movie. An hour into the movie the DVD was corrupt and stopped dead. There was nothing in the first hour that was Christian. In both cases, the first hour contained offensive material. Alex Kendrick’s movies open with main characters in need of getting “right” with God, but in both “Flywheel” and “Facing the Giants” you see the case being presented of a need for God. You may spend time taking your main character to the point where God can rescue him, but don’t wait until the last five minutes to show that God exists.

QUALITY COUNTS WITH GOD AND MOVIEGOERS

Many small Christian movies are made that go nowhere because they are just not up to the standards Americans expect in entertainment. You don’t have to meet the standards of “The Sound of Music” in order to get into a theater or get your DVD in Wal-Mart, but you cannot be oblivious to the state of the art in film and television production and expect to attract large audiences.

You need a solid script, proper lighting, good sound, appropriate music, good image quality, and believable acting. The average American sees countless hours of movies and television produced by professionals. They are distracted from enjoying the story when a cameraman cuts off heads, an editor has sound that doesn’t sync with mouth movements, or an actor looks like he’s reading his lines. If you think you’re making a movie to honor God, learn the art of filmmaking and honor God with good craftsmanship. The movie that’s going to attract really large Christian audiences will meet Hollywood’s standards for lighting, acting, sound, and music, but it will have a story that Christians can’t wait to tell their friends about.

If you want to succeed in any aspect of moviemaking, consult my book, “So You Want to be in Pictures?” For more help and guidance, call the offices of the Christian Film & Television Commission® and MOVIEGUIDE® at 1-888-248-6689.

We are on a mission to redeem the culture. We heartily encourage the production of more movies that glorify God. We want such movies to succeed. We stand ready to advise and assist. We have many years of experience in the industry and some of the most comprehensive research available. We promote worthy movies in our magazine, radio, television and Internet outlets. We give awards (some with sizable prizes) to the best movies of the year. We also give awards for the best Christian scripts from beginning screenwriters.

(c) baehr, 2007

NOTE from Dr. Ted Baehr: For more information from a Christian perspective, order the latest MOVIEGUIDE® magazine by calling 1-800-899-6684(MOVI) or visit our website at www.movieguide.org. MOVIEGUIDE® is dedicated to redeeming the values of Hollywood by informing parents about today's movies and entertainment and by showing media executives and artists that family-friendly and even Christian-friendly movies do best at the box office year in and year out. MOVIEGUIDE® now offers an online subscription to its magazine version, at www.movieguide.org. The magazine, which comes out 25 times a year, contains many informative articles and reviews that help parents train their children to be media-wise consumers. MOVIEGUIDE® also regularly broadcasts several international TV and radio programs hosted by Dr. Baehr. Also, if you want to train your family to be media-wise, call 1-800-899-6684 in North America to order the book, video or audio version of THE MEDIA-WISE! FAMILY, Dr. Ted Baehr's latest book. © baehr, 2001