Shortly before Easter, New Line Cinema executives sat down in a Los Angeles screening room for a class they nicknamed "Christianity 101."
The movie studio was preparing for the holiday release of "The Nativity Story," based on the biblical account of Jesus' birth. Taught by an evangelical preacher, a Presbyterian minister and a Pauline nun who doubled as a film critic for a Catholic magazine, the lesson was aimed at educating executives who were well-versed in slasher movies, fantasy thrillers and raunchy comedies but knew little about one of Christianity's most sacred events.
"They wanted to get a better handle on understanding the story and what it meant to people," said Sister Rose Pacatte, the critic who also directs the Pauline Center for Media Studies in Culver City. "I never had such a good class."
New Line's religious education is the latest effort by Hollywood to get in touch with the Christian market. The status of that moviegoing set climbed in the wake of Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ," about the crucifixion, and Walt Disney Co.'s "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," which had underlying Christian themes. Twentieth Century Fox has launched FoxFaith, a theatrical and home video distribution label for Christian films.
Lately, low-budget, independently produced faith movies also have shown resilience at the box office, even though they are playing in a fraction of the theaters a typical studio release does.
"Facing the Giants," an inspirational sports movie funded by just $100,000 in donations from the Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Ga., has grossed more than $8 million since it was released Sept. 29. "One Night With the King," about the Old Testament figure Esther, who is said to have saved the ancient Jews from death, has grossed about $13 million since its October release, although it has yet to make back its $26 million in production and marketing costs.
"It's like a tide rising," said Billy Joe Daugherty, pastor of Victory Christian Center, a Tulsa, Okla., congregation of 14,000. "The producers and companies that catch this will ride a wave. These are not one-time moviegoers."
"Nativity" also is a radical departure for New Line. The company, owned by giant Time Warner Inc., made its name with such low-budget hits as the "Nightmare on Elm Street" slasher series. More recently, it released the acclaimed "Lord of the Rings" trilogy and last year's hit comedy "The Wedding Crashers."
