Movie Industry Watcher Observes Hollywood Sea Change in The Passion's Wake
by Ed Thomas
July 29, 2005
(AgapePress) - One Hollywood insider says things in Tinseltown are changing, in part thanks to Mel Gibson's hit independent feature, The Passion of the Christ. Because of the doors opened by that Bible-based blockbuster, film festival founder Jason Apuzzo sees hope for the future of movies that will appeal to conservatives and others longing to see good, quality cinema entertainment.As founder of the conservative Liberty Film Festival and its website -- as well as co-editor of the film blog "Libertas" -- Apuzzo has been part of Hollywood for a while now. And after all these years, he says he is slowly seeing changes for the better. For one thing, the movie trade insider notes, Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ did not just open Hollywood's eyes to the profitability of films dealing with religious messages; it also demonstrated that there is substantial interest in such films among what the industry considers to be its core audience.
Apuzzo believes the box office numbers proved to the movie industry that a film like The Passion of the Christ could have a major impact, measurable in box office receipts. "That film brought a lot of people back to the movies who may not necessarily have been Christians or conservatives, but who simply are just tired of bad films," he contends. Also, he says, Gibson's film brought back those who "are also tired of films that don't have a personal dimension to them."
After a film based on the last hours of Christ's life leading up to his resurrection became a runaway hit, Apuzzo says the movie studios did sophisticated analysis of the phenomenon. In the process, they discovered that a large portion of the core audience -- that is, males with expendable income between the ages of 18 and 34 -- Christian and non-Christian alike, turned out to see The Passion. The research also showed that many who went to see the film did so not simply because of all the publicity surrounding it, but because they were looking for quality moviemaking and were attracted by the personal investment Gibson had made in bringing the story to the screen.
One of the upshots of Hollywood's analysis of the success of The Passion, the festival founder notes, is that studios are now soliciting and showing more respect for material aimed at both Christian and non-Christian audiences. And even of the latter sort of movies, he says, the studios are looking at films that are less formulaic, less profit-driven and contrived, as well as films that originate from producers like Gibson who have put a personal vision on the line.
"So you see a couple of different things happening right now," Apuzzo says. "You see people in Hollywood now angling toward both Christian audiences, more conservative audiences, but also trying to just break away from the comic book movies and these sort of over-hyped commercial ventures."
Apuzzo adds that he is also excited to see so many people in Tinseltown now looking to go beyond the Left-wing lifestyle propaganda messages that have been common in so many movies. He says he anticipates seeing some good movies emerging from Hollywood in the days to come.
Ed Thomas, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
