Independent Christian Film, Hollywood’s Best Investment in ‘08
by S.T. KarnickYes, The Dark Knight made more money in U.S. theaters than any film in history except Titanic (in nominal dollars, unadjusted for inflation), but in terms of sheer return on the investment dollar, you’d have been better off putting your cash into the teen vampire movie Twilight, the teen musical High School Musical 3: Senior Year, or Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert.
And you’d have been much, much smarter to invest in Kirk Cameron’s small, independent, Christian film Fireproof: it cost a half-million dollars to make and brought in $33.1 million, a return of more than sixty times its budget.
That’s the conclusion of an interesting article on E! Online about movie returns on investment. Of course, it’s not possible to predict precisely what films will have greatest audience appeal before they’re even made, but a few things are clear and have remained true for years:
- Big stars in recognizable, popular genres will get a big opening weekend. But if the movie isn’t good, it will tank quickly thereafter.
- Teenage girls are a steady source of income for the film industry.
- PG and G films make money.
- Big stars and snazzy graphics guarantee high costs but not necessarily high returns—cf. You Don’t Mess with the Zohan, Australia, and Speed Racer.
- Political implications are fine, but to update the great Hollywood producer Samuel Goldwyn, if you want to send a message, send a text. The antiwar agenda deservedly brought financial losses to the arrogant leftists who tried to inflict it on innocent audiences.
- And most important of all: people want a good time at the movies. They are willing to be challenged (as The Dark Knight and Iron Man, for example, did very well), but they don’t want to be insulted or have their basic values denigrated.
If that all sounds absurdly simple and makes you wonder why Hollywood doesn’t just do what makes the most and steadiest money, the reality is that the big hits typically bring in enough cash to pay for a plethora of under-performers and outright disasters. If a producer, studio, or distributor takes a flyer on a sufficiently diverse slate of offerings, they’ll typically make a nice, tidy, and dependable profit.
Such complacency, however, is a huge mistake when it evolves into arrogance and contempt for audiences. Hollywood’s attempt to foist too much politicized, angry fare on American moviegoers last year resulted in a significant drop-off in ticket sales—about 4.25 percent. A couple of years of that, and people in the industry will have to start tightening their belts.
Or concentrate more devoutly on making films that show some respect for common American values.
Email this to a friend | Print |
Share on Facebook
| Tweet this
| 
Follow Us on Twitter
Subscribe via RSS
Tips & Feedback
36 Comments
Too logical.
Just another example of the dishonesty of the “Hollywood just wants to make money,” argument. This coupled with the story about Che (the $50 million joke that has made back $250,000 after four weeks) is a nice bookend to the debunking that argument.
Teenage girls are a steady source of income for the film industry.
Well, I’m a few years past my salad days, but I still enjoyed Twilight.What an adorable little boy, that vampire! ;o)
I also saw Fireproof and appreciated its message and unabashed admission that its goal was to disseminate that message; making money was secondary. Hollywood is fooling very few of us here at BH; there is a leftist agenda in play. It is tedious to be told again and again that there isn’t one, that “Hollywood just wants to make money.”
My prediction for 2009: The probama films that will inevitably appear will continue to deservedly [bring] financial losses to the arrogant leftists who [try] to inflict [probama-rama-drama] on innocent audiences. . . and will lose money, also.
Lot’s of good points! But as a writer and movie lover I still hold out hope that a good story still trumps all. I don’t mind going to the “art house” to see the kinds of movies that interest me. I long ago gave up the multiplex and mall. Give the little girl their Twilight, the big girls their Sex and City, the little and big boys their mindless action fare and the Christians their Fireproof. It’s not my cup of tea, but it’s a big tent. Smart, well written films, with or without an agenda still have an audience. The art houses are small, but always packed. I wasn’t challenged by Dark Knight or Iron Man. I don’t go into a movie in fear that my values will be challenged. I want to see fun, thought provoking films….challenge away! A good movie is good movie, whether I agree with the writer or director’s politics or not.
The liberalism of Speed Racer WAS pretty blatant.
I loved “You Don’t Mess With The Zohan” but that comes from hanging out with Israelis two days before I saw it.
It had limited appeal (and the ending with the evil developer and Zohan falling in love with the chick was lame). At any rate, I still thought it was pretty funny.
I love this article, its so true
[...] More here: Big Hollywood » Blog Archive » Independent Christian Film … [...]
Heck, my first published novel grew out of an essay I wrote for the blog The Daily Brief (www.ncobrief.com) , at the beginning of the summer movie season in 2003, lamenting how few movies there were which would move me three feet off a rock ledge, and outlining my dream movie – the greatest frontier adventure that no one had ever heard of. I spun it out to a four-part essay, telling the story of the Stephens-Townsend wagon-train party of 1844, who went over the Sierra Nevada in mid-winter, were caught in the snow, had to abandon their wagons and break up the party, nearly starved (but didn’t!) two years before the Donner party. A friend of mine had connections in the business, and had me do it up as a movie treatment. Never got anywhere, but I eventually did it myself as a novel. I still would think it would make a great movie, though! (It’s called “To Truckee’s Trail”, BTW – in case anyone agrees with me and wants to check it out.)
By this logic, the film industry should scrap production on everything it’s doing right now and concentrate exclusively on pornography – which makes an even BETTER return on investment (how much can Girls Gone Wild POSSIBLY cost to produce?) than niche-market Christian films do
You’d be down for that, right Mr. Karnick? Cause you’re just suggesting that Hollywood support the likes of Fireproof because it’s a better business model, right? Cuz, I mean… otherwise… well, you’d be propping up subjective data in order to encourage the cinematic foisting of Christian messages on audiences – which would make you no better (WORSE, actually, since Christian filmmaking is uniformly god-awful, pardon the pun) than “liberal” moviemakers putting out message movies.
[...] Big Hollywood » Blog Archive » Independent Christian Film, Hollywood’s Best Investment in ‘08 . No Comments so far Leave a comment RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI [...]
I saw a display for Fireproof and a companion film at WalMart last evening while shopping, and I told my friend, “Those are Christian movies.” How did I know this, when I hadn’t seen either at the theater, on “Moviefone” or read reviews of either? I hadn’t heard of either before, they were highly-advertised and looked good, I saw the wedding ring in the logo of Fireproof, and Kirk Cameron’s name.
How’s that for figuring stuff out for one’s self? Because trusting “mainstream” ads, sites and newspapers – these just didn’t and don’t exist.
Now I had better go see “W” and “Che”
PS – loved Zohan too, MK. Smell it, smell it – now take it!! I guess it’s an “acquired taste.” But then my wordpress picture is from The Hebrew Hammer so go figure.
I would love to see more good family fare coming out of Hollywood, but I’m just thankful that there is some. I don’t trust the liberals that control that industry to really care about their customers. They make the some films to make money and then take the profits and use them to get their kicks making the films that push their agenda. This article makes that clear. I’m sure there is a lot of pressure among the big Hollywood movers and shakers to make these kinds of films.
I loved ‘Twilight’. My daughters loved Twilight and even my husband enjoyed it. He will probably only see it that one time, the rest of us will watch it again and again. Why did we like it? The story, the message, the fantasy, the actors. Other movies loved by our family include Dark Knight, Wall-E, Get Smart…
I have a secret to tell. I’m a (in my mind, anyway) studly electrician, hockey-playing, beer drinking GUY. Capital ‘G’ baby! (Actually, it’s a bourbon next to me now, but you get the idea). That’s not the secret.
My wife and I went to see Fireproof together. I wasn’t entirely enthusiastic. Don’t get me wrong I can dig a chick-flick from time to time, but I have very concrete religious beliefs and the fact that it was produced by a group associated with a church made me fear heavy-handed doctrinal messages that would violate my no interfaith rule.
I was really moved to see a positive depiction of the struggles of marriage. We’ve seen all the ‘dirty underbelly of the suburban family’ stories we need to see for a lifetime. This one was at least as realistic and left a good taste. Cameron was respectable, the wife was competent and attractive and many of the supporting players were smile inducing. A couple of the performances were reminiscent of my high-school drama experiences (well, we were actually a little more subtle) but eh plot avoided the pain-by-numbers that I expected. I found the mea culpa that Cameron’s character made to his wife toward the end to be extremely effective dramatically. the religious elements were more in the nature of a general point-of-view and not a sermon.
Maybe it’s just a lack of this type of movie that made it stand out to me, but it is as memorable to me as any other movie I have seen this year (Iron Man still being my favorite by a few degrees). Oh yeah, my secret… When my wife had to go out of town for a couple of days and I had time to kill… I went and saw it again by myself.
Now you know why I use a pseudonym.
[MovieBob said....By this logic, the film industry should scrap production on everything it’s doing right now and concentrate exclusively on pornography - which makes an even BETTER return on investment (how much can Girls Gone Wild POSSIBLY cost to produce?) than niche-market Christian films do
]
Didn’t you hear? Joe Francis is going to petition Congress for bailout money. Porn just isn’t what it used to be.
MovieBob,
The point isn’t that Hollywood should only do projects based on the money they bring in, it’s that apologists for the movie industry should stop trying to rationalize a lot of the crap they put out based on the profit argument.
Don’t forget the failure that was ‘An American Carol.’ Apparently audiences aren’t quite ready for unfunny, Republican propaganda. For shame!
DES
“Didn’t you hear? Joe Francis is going to petition Congress for bailout money. Porn just isn’t what it used to be.”
Well! That settles that, then, as I’m positive that if Joe Francis is saying/doing something, it must be 100% on the up-and-up, sincerely-intended and in no way shape or form just a timely attempt to insert himself and his product into the current national news cycle. I understand, for example, that notoriously soft-spoken, camera-shy, publicity-averse businessperson Larry Flynt has joined him in this endeavor.
a suggestion for your site: list profit/loss figures for movies of interest. Following the money can be so informative.
Also, what part of those ‘losses’ of the big movies can be attributed to very large up-front expenses like star and producer salaries??
I love movies about movies and actors, by the way. My favorite 2 are: Soap Dish (Sally Field, Kevin Kline) and State and Main (Hoffman, Baldwin, Macy, Sarah Jessica Parker.) The fact is, all the actors in these movies do superb jobs. I just wish they would shut up about their views on anything else but acting.
[...] Big Hollywood » Blog Archive » Independent Christian Film … [...]
I don’t see anything wrong with the Dark Knight or Iron Man. Yeah there was no overt references to God or politics and no crappy Kirk Cameron performances, but to say Hanna Montana is more worth your money is trite elitism better off on the Daily Kos.
Really, I find Batman and Iron Man better influences in my kids life then any politician including most Republicans.
At least the Dark Knight has standards that he really holds to. If only GW had those balls.
If this bothers anyone, then I EMPLORE a true conservative thinker make a GOOD superhero movie. I suggest the next Superman. Maybe then, as Ann Coulter wrote, Lois wouldn’t be a single mother and Supes the ultimate deadbeat dad.
I like the christian productions of Facing the Giants and am looking forward to seeing fireproof. My guess is their financial success is more because its feeding a long ignored audience which also happens to be huge. If other organizations would put out christian based films their success would be less. But mind you the ones who made these movies never cared if they turned a profit.
As for Zohan, With the exception of “click” Adam Sandler’s movies have been going downhill in a big way, I think Sandler has talent but he has overused the lovable loser thing and his over perverted stuff is just childish. I would love to see him move on to more adult rolls.
Dark Knight was boringly predictable, Ledger made it interesting with an amazingly dark performance, but he’s gone so I think this series needs to end.
I didn’t see twilight, I’m not sure what the deal is with young girls and vampires. I guess they always go for the bad guy and complain when they get bit.
Want to help make a Christian film yourself?
http://prayerwarrior.movierich.com
DH and I saw Fireproof, within just the past week; and we were pleasantly surprised at the depth of the message. As someone else has stated, the Christian message was not overt; but the message of the struggles of marriage was front and center.
As we discussed the movie, on our way home, we realized we could see ourselves, and many other married couples, in the characters. Even the quiet seduction of the wife, by the doctor, was clearly what often happens in these situations. What a breath of fresh air to see the depiction of good people grappling with the issues of lifelong commitment and the outcome being win-win for everyone. How often do we see a movie and can actually RELATE to the struggles of the characters? Not very often, I would submit. And, further, how often do we actually find practical answers to those struggles.
Kudos to Kirk Cameron and the producers for having the courage to undertake this project. There must have a been a lot of snickering and eye-rolling among the Hollywood elite; but I’ll bet the success of Fireproof will extend to DVD sales and then who’ll be laughing? If success in Hollywood were the bottom line, Fireproof would clearly be a winner.
I had to admit I really didn’t read the whole post, or really any of your comments but I am confused; are you people trying to tell Hollywood how to spend their money? Isn’t that uhh, oh what is the word I am looking for, uh … socialist. The thing is just because A Christian movie made a really good return on investment does not mean all Christian movies will, and just because it made a greater return on investment than the Dark Knight doesn’t mean it is more successful. Ticket sales are only part of the money a movie makes don’t forget merchandising, merchandising, merchandising. And oh … that drop in ticket sales, I am gonna go out on a crazy wacko limb here and say … maybe it is the economy stupid.
Actually no. Writing an opinion telling Hollywood what it should spend money on is not socialist. For the government to tell Hollywood what it should spend money on, and enforcing it with legislation or executive order, now that would be socialist. See the difference?
I enjoy movies that are constructive – not destructive.
If Hollywood would make more Fireproofs, I’d go to the movies more often. And I’m not alone.
There is a couple’s Bible Study guide that goes with Fireproof.
Georgiawood
http://www.sherwoodpictures.com/
American Girl,
What an excellent post in just a few words.
One of the conceits of Tinseltown that is being exposed by this website is that edgy, depraved and dark = quality. There are many quality movies that may be dark in tone, but the Golden Age made it clear that, to use your phrase, constructive movies can also be quality pictures as well.
It requires more courage to try to display sincerity than it does irony. The example of Fireproof is a good one. Cameron’s performance was solidly workmanlike at the least. His deft handling of some fairly saccharine dialog at a few points was actually worthy of notice. And yet he will receive no acknowledgment for that, but will get plenty of ridicule from the Golden Globe crowd and their armchair proxies.
I wonder how Jimmy Stewart would fare if he was starting out in Hollywood today? His sincerity was pretty sincere and his detached irony tempered by a good nature.
Thanks for giving this good movie a plug. A wonderful and inspirational movie on a hip, new conservative Hollywood site. Who could ever have thought it?
Russ – maybe your best place to post comments would be YouTube. This article isn’t advising Hollywood to make any type of film so much as its pointing up a large audience that isn’t being served as much as it could be. In addition to being a writer, I’m a college teacher. A lot of my students don’t necessarily want to see the most violent, sex-filled films, even the guys. The majority of them aren’t interested in politically-motivated stories of any type (I hadn’t heard of the “Che” film and found out it was a two-parter showing only in Beverly Hills). Film, television and book publishing is primarily about making money. If the Christian films are making money, and they seem to be (remember “Passion of the Christ” – it made a couple bucks), then this is a market and audience worth pursuing. Like many things, it helps to have the creative people knowledgable about and respectful of their audience. People “vote” with their feet and their dollars. If Christian films continue to increase in audience and moneymaking, my bet is that there will be more of them. And my bet is also that other films on any topic people aren’t much interested in will still probably be made as well. Hard to believe people didn’t have a clue that a giant, two-parter about Che Guevara wouldn’t be the most popular film out there. “Maw, why don’t anybody wan to sit through it?” There’s only a small portion of masochists that extreme.
Hello, this is information about miley cyrus
Hello there,very nice place
==
http://www.vinyladdiction.tv/sitemap.xml
[...] via Big Hollywood » Blog Archive » Independent Christian Film, Hollywood’s Best Investment in ‘08 . [...]
You must be logged in to post a comment.