Christian Movie Gains a Firm Toehold on Mainstream Circuit

In a sign of the growing market for Christian-oriented entertainment, an independent production company is using grass-roots, church-based appeals and a novel marketing campaign to put a Christian-themed movie in more than 900 theaters nationwide--a record for this kind of film.

“Left Behind: The Movie,” which opens today, is an apocalyptic fantasy in which true believers in Christ disappear from the Earth. The film, produced by Peter and Paul Lalonde’s Canadian-based Cloud 10 Pictures, was released late last year on video and has sold 2.5 million copies, making it 2000’s best selling independent video.

Its launch in theaters, backed by a highly motivated and super-connected Internet Christian community that is determined to vote with its pocketbook, is the latest demonstration of a trend that has seen huge increases in the sale of Christian-themed entertainment.

How the wide-screen release of “Left Behind” will fare is anybody’s guess. But if the tremendous word-of-mouth campaign is any indicator, the film is poised to set records and further open a pathway for Christian-themed entertainment.

The Lalondes are determined to show that the evangelical Christian market--estimated by religious experts at more than 75 million consumers nationwide--is ready to show its clout at the box office.

“Our whole idea is to demonstrate that this is a viable genre,” said Peter Lalonde, who along with his brother Paul co-founded their production company in 1996. “The ship rises with the tide for everybody. If we can do well at the box office, it is going to open an awful lot of doors for all kinds of filmmakers, not just us.”

“Left Behind” has stirred interest in Hollywood, not only because of its healthy video sales but also because of its unorthodox theatrical release. It’s rare for a movie to be shown in theaters after it has been released on video--much less the kind of wide release that “Left Behind” is getting. But the Lalondes knew they had to find a novel approach to get their movie noticed.

“The studios always do sneak previews of their movies,” said Lalonde, who has produced three other Christian films. “So we had a three-month sneak preview with the video release.”

The audience for this type of entertainment has been building momentum for years, beginning with Billy Graham’s Evangelistic Assn. films in the 1960s through the 1980s, to 1999’s “The Omega Code,” which made $12.5 million at the box office--currently the highest grossing Christian film. By tapping into that audience, Cloud 10 Pictures was able to persuade theater owners around the nation to show the film.

Cultural historian and author Neal Gabler sees a film like “Left Behind” as “symbolic,” noting that evangelical Christians, having demonstrated their political clout, now are trying to make their mark in the country’s popular culture.

“A film like this is symbolic,” Gabler said. “This is a way for the religious right to say they have [their own form of entertainment] but they have to do it themselves because Hollywood won’t embrace it. It’s, in a sense, stoking their own cultural fires.”

“The Omega Code,” which also had an apocalypse story line, was No. 10 at the box office in its first weekend, opening in 300 theaters and averaging an impressive $8,000 per screen. It was produced by Los Angeles-based Gener8Xion Entertainment, which is funded by Trinity Broadcasting Network in Orange County. Gener8Xion is planning to release “The Champion,” a Christian-themed film about a boxer, nationwide March 2 and the sequel to “The Omega Code,” called “Megiddo--Omega Code II,” in August.

This desire for religious-themed entertainment has translated to the music scene as well. Christian and gospel music artists are doing better than ever on the Billboard pop charts, with their sales rising from $164 million in 1990 to $863 million in 1998, according to the Gospel Music Assn. and the Christian Music Trade Assn.

The Lalondes got a boost with their film because it’s based on the novel “Left Behind,” the first of an eight-part Christian fundamentalist series that has gone toe to toe with John Grisham novels and the Harry Potter series on bestseller lists. Cloud 10, in association with Namesake Entertainment, has acquired the rights to the second and third novels. They hope to get the exclusive rights to the rest of the series with the intention of filming the sequels. They also were keenly aware of the need to improve the quality of Christian entertainment, which traditionally has been considered hokey and sentimental.

“The challenge that Christian movies have had in the past has been that the quality has not been there,” Lalonde said. “You have to do it a step at a time and make each film better than the one before.”

The video’s success “took a lot of people in the industry by surprise,” noted Tonya Bates, general manager of VideoScan, the agency that tracks consumer sales of VHS tapes and digital videodiscs. “It will be very interesting to see what will happen when it’s released in theaters. This movie really broke the mold.”

The “Left Behind” video became a huge seller primarily at such large retailers as Wal-Mart, Costco and Sam’s Club, in addition to Christian bookstores nationwide.

The film, with a budget of $17 million, quickly is becoming an example of the tremendous grass-roots networking within the evangelical Christian community that producers of religious-based entertainment can tap into. To publicize the video release, Cloud 10 launched a Web site. The site got more than 2.8 million hits its first week.

Those who purchased the $30 video were encouraged to e-mail, write or call their local movie theater to show their support for a wide-screen release. Indeed, theater chains such as AMC received numerous calls asking for the film, said Rick King, spokesman for AMC. The film will be shown in theaters throughout Southern California in cities such as Ontario, Orange, Covina and Long Beach, which have active fundamentalist churches. King said AMC decided to pick up the film, despite its video release, because of the grass-roots church networking.

“There seems to be an interest in seeing this film in theaters,” he said. “We normally don’t do this. We’ll see what happens.”

Churches around the country have become “sponsors” of the film, giving away discount tickets to local theaters where the film will play and telling parishioners to support it on its opening weekend.

In addition, some of the top Christian rock bands, featured in the film’s soundtrack, began a roving national tour earlier this month that will continue through the film’s opening.

“Left Behind,” which features former “Growing Pains” star Kirk Cameron and his wife, Chelsea Noble, is based on the apocalyptic interpretations of the Bible’s Book of Revelation. In the film, all children and those who believe in Christ suddenly disappear from the Earth and are whisked to heaven. Those left behind must live through a seven-year period of tribulation, ruled by the antichrist. In the film, the antichrist is the leader of the United Nations--a Russian-accented man named Nicolae Carpathia.

For Cameron, a fundamentalist Christian, acting in “Left Behind” was a matter of faith in the project. “I’m a guy who wants to make great projects that are about important stuff. People in general are fascinated with this topic because it’s intriguing and they ask themselves, ‘Do I go to church or don’t I? Do I have a real relationship with God?’ ”

Kristi Shawhan of Greentown, Ind., who is one of those eagerly waiting for “Left Behind” to come to her local theater, said the last movie she saw was “The Omega Code.”

“I think there are people who are starved for this kind of entertainment,” she said. “The other films out there--I don’t feel I can really take my kids.” In Internet chat rooms as well as on the film’s Web site, fans of the picture say they hope to send a message to Hollywood.

The video release of “Left Behind” was marketed as the “Christian entertainment event of 2000.” For years, Christian fundamentalists have been clamoring for Hollywood to reduce violence and graphic material in films. Spiritually themed TV shows, such as “Touched by an Angel” and “Seventh Heaven,” have been long-running successes.

Last year, Hollywood executives testified before the Senate Commerce Committee, which was looking into violence in the entertainment industry after a Federal Trade Commission report criticized the industry for marketing R-rated material to children. And the heat isn’t likely to go away soon. In January, Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.) said he would introduce legislation that would give the FTC the power to prosecute companies that market violent movies, video games and music to underage audiences.

“Over and over, we hear how ‘tired’ society is of violent and sex-filled movies,” Bryan and Sara Lilly of Rocklin, Calif., said in an e-mail to The Times. “And yet, Hollywood continues to churn them out, one after another, getting worse and worse, with some notable exceptions. What happens to the voice of those who really want to see a change?”

Despite Hollywood’s initial cold shoulder to the movie (the Lalondes say they pitched the film to every major studio and were rejected), many in the industry now are taking notice.

“Theatrical release is the engine that drives everything else,” said Paul Dergarabedian, head of Exhibitor Relations Co., a box office tracking organization. “But in this case, they are turning that paradigm on its head--it’s the video sales that will drive the theatrical release. It is an unusual strategy, but it might be the right strategy for a movie of this type.”