DVDs’ faith- based bonanza

In the DVD world, “Diary of a Mad Black Woman” was a hot property. The $5.4-million film, the first adaptation of a Tyler Perry play, opened Feb. 25 and grossed $21.8 million its opening weekend. And suddenly its after-theatrical life was of keen interest. The home entertainment divisions of both Twentieth Century Fox and Lions Gate Entertainment were the prime contenders for rights to all of Perry’s plays.

Lions Gate, which distributed the movie, came out on top. Earlier this month, the company announced that it would release seven DVDs of Perry’s work -- “Diary” and three others this summer. Though the 35-year-old playwright trades primarily in comedy and drama, Perry is a self-professed man of faith -- someone whose social and gospel message should appeal to the underserved faith-based audience that fueled Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ.” Just as “Diary” expanded beyond Perry’s primarily African American fan-base, Lions Gate is betting these DVDs will break out. The playwright himself has already sold $30 million worth on his website, on tour and through small distributors -- with a lot less money behind them.

“I’ve been talking to retailers ever since ‘Diary’ opened, and we expect to sell a ton,” said Steve Beeks, president of Lions Gate Entertainment. “We’re developing Tyler Perry as a brand, not unlike James Bond. Lions Gate is all about finding niches -- and the faith-based one is easily defined, easy to reach. Releasing four DVDs at a time should help us establish a greater footprint.”

While Fox lost this battle, the company, which sold 13 million discs of “The Passion” last year, is in it for the long haul. Last week, the studio launched the home-video version of “Woman Thou Art Loosed.” Directed by Michael Schultz and produced by Reuben Cannon, it’s an “R-rated movie of faith,” the studio says -- a film they’re counting on to bring in an audience that’s African American, urban, churchgoing and educated. Fox is targeting a more new-age “spiritual” crowd, as DVDs of the 2004 cult hit “What the Bleep Do We Know?!” hit the video stores today.

“Our goal is not to ‘tap’ the faith-based audience but to provide a service where there was none,” said Mike Dunn, president of Fox Home Entertainment. “I’m a good Catholic boy and don’t feel like I’m exploiting the marketplace. We realized its potential before ‘Passion,’ but that movie was like getting a PhD -- it cemented our knowledge.”

Based on a bestselling novel by Bishop T.D. Jakes, “Loosed” tells the story of a onetime crack addict (Kimberly Elise, who also stars in “Diary”) who is incarcerated for killing her mother’s boyfriend, who sexually abused her. The bishop himself visits the protagonist in prison, speaking of love, forgiveness, triumphing over adversity. No effort was made to sugarcoat the gritty nature of the material, Fox says -- a tough sell in the faith-based market.

The Christian Booksellers Assn. lined up behind it, nonetheless -- largely because of Jakes, a rising star in the religious world who lent credibility to the project. The group, which represents more than 3,000 retail stores nationwide, did issue a disclaimer, however, that it’s intended for “adult” audiences. That stamp of approval -- in addition to ads on Christian and gospel radio stations and mailings to more than 200,000 churches -- paid off. Forty-eight percent of the slightly more than 500,000 DVDs sent out to retailers were sold on Day One -- far more than the average 15% to 17% for a movie of that size.

“That tells me they didn’t ship enough,” said Lions Gate’s Beeks, who plans to send out “several million” units when the Perry release rolls around. Preferring to replenish rather than “front-loading” the marketplace, Fox has since shipped out an additional 250,000 of “Woman.” It’s the No. 1-selling adult film at Family Christian, the largest member of the CBA.

Fox also sent out half a million units of “Bleep” -- an unusual mix of animation, drama and talking heads that ran up to seven months at some theaters. Bouncing between quantum physics and the spiritual realm, the movie (financed by Buddhist William Arntz) suggests that we create our own realities. New-age churchgoers were responsible for a significant portion of the box-office receipts, which totaled $10 million. To bolster the profile, the studio placed fliers and postcards in venues such as health food stores, acupuncturists and chiropractors, and ran ads in alternative publications.

Advance orders placed the movie No. 7 on the Amazon.com DVD list last week, ahead of major studio releases such as “Ray” and “Phantom of the Opera.”

“Marketing DVDs like these is the exact opposite of sending out mass market movies, in which you buy millions of dollars in TV ads and let them fly,” said Steve Feldstein, senior vice president of Fox Home Entertainment. “We know who we’re going after -- and we know where to find them. For a title like ‘Woman,’ it’s about demographics -- who people are. For a title like ‘Bleep,’ it’s about psychographics -- how people think.”

Last year, the studio released three faith-based DVDs. Another, “The Visitation,” is in production. And library titles such as “The Sound of Music” and the studio’s recent “Because of Winn-Dixie” are as appropriate for that audience as non-secular fare, Dunn maintains.

“Post-’Passion,’ we turned up the volume dramatically,” he said, “but we’re moving slowly, trying to be sensitive to the subject matter. This audience is far less bifurcated than the Hispanic population -- with all those subcultures. Still, you can’t offend any portion of it or you’ll lose people’s trust.”

Last year, the studio enlisted producer Ralph Winter (“X-Men”) to improve the quality of its faith-oriented releases. He oversaw “Hangman’s Curse,” a film based on a book by Christian writer Frank Peretti that sold nearly a million units. Fox also acquired the rights to Hallmark Productions’ TV films based on books by Jeannette Oke -- another major name in Christian fiction.

Fox’s faith-based DVDs are screened in Nashville, where ministers and executives in the Christian retail community weigh in. Audience response is solicited, sometimes in ad-hoc focus sessions. In-house, there’s a special markets group to handle all projects out of the mainstream. The studio also sends quarterly advisories and discussion guides for upcoming products to 50,000 congregations.

Feldstein draws a distinction between his company’s releases and the bestselling “Left Behind” series of post-Rapture fiction. “Despite the underlying moral core, we’re in the business of entertaining, not proselytizing,” he said.

Lions Gate, for its part, plans to release “Madea’s Family Reunion” -- Perry’s second big-screen outing -- in February and is looking for other material to appeal to the faith-based community. To bolster word-of-mouth, the company screened “Diary” for churches and employs “street groups” in which community members serve as ambassadors -- talking up the pictures to religious and community organizations nationwide. In recent years, titles such as “Mary, Mother of Jesus,” Franco Zeffirelli’s “Jesus of Nazareth” and “The Miracle Maker,” whose American rights it acquired from Gibson’s Icon Productions, have been unearthed from the library and released on DVD.

Sending Perry’s plays straight to video is not a leap of faith, Beeks maintains. “Diary” should take $50 million to $60 million at the box office, helping to create “awareness,” he says. And the plays themselves have grossed $100 million thus far.

“One picture does not make a trend,” Beeks said. “Still, ‘Diary’ shines a light on the hunger that exists. We intend to be aggressive in addressing this audience, making it a substantial part of our business. In a marketplace where DVDs have penetrated 70% of the households, this segment is as [technologically] sophisticated as any other.”