"Lights, Camera, Fiction!" from Christian Book Reader

From Christian Book Reader magazine, Jan/Feb 2008...

Lights, Camera, Fiction!
Christian storytellers fill the big screen

Right now in Hollywood, the world of Narnia is more appealing than a tin of Turkish delight.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was the second highest grossing movie of the year in 2005. The sequel, Prince Caspian, is one of the most hotly anticipated movies of 2008, and now a film version of one of C.S. Lewis’ other books, The Screwtape Letters, is underway.

Films based on Lewis’ beloved fantasy series are leading the way into the world of movies for books from the Christian market, and many others are following.

In addition to Lewis’ books, top Christian authors such Ted Dekker, Frank Peretti and Karen Kingsbury all have multiple projects in development, classics such as Milton’s Paradise Lost are being produced, and many more authors are finding a place for their novels in the DVD market.

Revealing a Market
This surge of interest in Christian literature has a number of factors. Probably the most important is the bigger trend in the entertainment industry to cater to the Christian market, which was kick-started by the success of The Passion of The Christ. The smash hit movie that grossed more than $1 billion worldwide revealed an underappreciated market and opened all kinds of doors.

“I think that Hollywood and New York have recognized that we didn’t create a market, we revealed a market,” said Jerry Jenkins, best-selling author of the apocalyptic “Left Behind” series, who has had several of his books turned into films.

Karen Kingsbury, a best-selling women’s author, has two movies releasing next year, Like Dandelion Dust and Gideon’s Gift. She agrees with Jenkins.

“There’s a lot of us out there saying that we don’t want a more and more twisted view of entertainment,” Kingsbury said. “We’re out there, middle America, we’re raising families, we’re going to church on Sundays, we’re trying to live a life that’s honoring to God, and we’re trying to have fun while we’re doing it. We need something to watch, and we have money.”

Another element is the continuing success of Christian fiction in the general marketplace. While sales of many book genres have been down in recent years, Christian novels continue to do well and, with their increased visibility, continue to get into more hands.

“As a practical fact, Christian books are becoming more and more widely available,” said Chip Flaherty, executive vice president of Walden Media, which makes the Narnia movies. “That availability and that exposure has people interested.”

Many would argue that not only has the availability improved, so has the quality.

“I think Christian publishers and writers are writing more mainstream. They’ve really stepped away from the ‘having to preach’ mentality,” said Christian author Robert Liparulo. “There are better writers, and there are more of them writing for Christian publishing houses now than there were just 10 years ago.”

Liparulo is a fairly new author on the scene who has had a decent amount of success in the Christian thrillers market with books like Comes a Horseman and Germ. He has several books in the early stages of development to become major motion pictures.

A Critical Time
Of course, for this trend to continue, movies made from Christian books not only have to make it into theaters, but they also have to sell tickets.

While some films have hit it big with audiences—such as The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Amazing Grace—others have not fared as well on the big screen.

Producer and industry insider Phil Cooke believes the discrepancy lies in the fact that the Christian audience is too big for one particular brand of movie.

“The reason The Passion of The Christ was so successful is because it was the central core story of our faith that everybody can pretty much agree on,” said Cooke, the president of Cooke Pictures. “But, once you veer off that central, core story and you start doing a suspense thriller or a family drama or a comedy, then all bets are off. You’re not going to get that huge, giant audience.”

Figuring out how to reach this powerful but elusive audience is crucial to Christian filmmakers now that they have their foot in the door. Jenkins said that right now Christians have an open window, but that it’s a “dangerous spot” to be in.

“If people start doing schlacky stuff and it fails, all of a sudden Hollywood’s on to something else, and we’ve missed it,” he said.

Ralph Winter, a Christian and the producer of the “X-Men” and “Fantastic Four” films, has also helmed a number of Christian movies, such as Thr3e and Frank Peretti’s The Visitation, and will be working on The Screwtape Letters next. He agrees that this is a critical time.

“The stakes are very high as we tackle books that have a high profile in Christian circles, like the Screwtape book,” he said. “We think we have one shot to get it right, and there will be lots of critics waiting for us.”

Ted Baehr, publisher of Movieguide, is worried that the move toward adapting Christian books will actually hurt Christian films because, in his words, “books make lousy movies.”

“The fact is that all novels are difficult to make into movies, whether it’s secular, Christian or whatever else,” he said.

He’s worried that if these movies don’t turn out well, the studios will blame the Christianity of the movies, rather than the difficulty of turning a book into a film.

However, others disagree with Baehr’s opinion that adapting films from Christian books will create bad movies.

Winter said that adapted movies have a built-in audience from the book that will be interested in the movie as soon as they hear about it. Liparulo, who has worked on both novels and screenplays, agreed that it’s difficult to do a good adaptation—particularly if the book is complex—but said that just because it’s difficult doesn’t mean it can’t be done.

Most experts believe the key is simple, and that is to make sure they’re producing quality products.

Books and DVDS
For the original books themselves—the stories these movies are coming from—the impact of movies can be huge.

Alicia Mey, vice president of marketing for Zonderkidz, said that sales of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe took off as soon as the movie’s trailer released. Many people wanted to read the book before they saw the film. Once the movie hit theaters, sales of the book were usually 10 times higher than normal—sometimes 20.

“One of the things we’ve found is that there’s a huge correlation between the two,” Mey said. “People who read a book will go see the movie, and people who see a movie will read the book.”

That’s the kind of inclusive audience filmmakers look for when they consider movies that release straight to DVD or television, increasingly the route for Christian films.

“For a lower budget project—a niche kind of thing—sometimes going straight to DVD is the most effective way to do it,” Cooke said. “You’re able to target your audience a little bit more effectively.”

Christian fiction writer Beverly Lewis’ novel The Redemption of Sarah Cain was originally planned as a theatrical release, but ended up going to television and then DVD. A number of Janette Oke’s novels, such as Love’s Unending Legacy, have been smash hits on the Hallmark Channel.

Jerry Jenkins now has his own studio, Jenkins Entertainment, which produces movies for DVD release. His son, Dallas, directs and produces the films, such as Midnight Clear starring Stephen Baldwin.

Even the movies that haven’t done very well at the box office, such as Ted Dekker’s Thr3e and The Nativity Story, have had strong DVD sales.