Christian based, family friendly movies keep surprising the so called experts in Hollywood with their continued success at the box office. The latest example of this occurrence is the faith-based film "I Can Only Imagine." This film, based on the real life experiences of Christian band MercyMe's lead singer Bart Millard, was a surprise success in the box office during its opening weekend.
A Movie Based on a Song
Yes the film "I Can Only Imagine" tells the story behind the creation of the song "I Can Only Imagine" as one might expet but it goes so much further. It tells the heart wrenching, sometimes hard to watch story of Bart Millard's life. It details how an abusive father and a mother who abandoned him shaped the man he eventually became.
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"I Can Only Imagine" doubled expectations and raked in an impressive $17.1 million during its opening weekend. To put this number in perspective, consider the fact that it only played in 1,629 theaters. "Tomb Raider" opened in twice as many theaters but only beat the Christian film by around $6 million in revenue. "Tomb Raider" enjoyed a hefty $94 million budget, while "I Can Only Imagine" got by with a comparably tiny budget of $7 million. "I Can Only Imagine" also beat out Disney's "A Wrinkle in Time," a move which should have included Christian elements but had them removed for the sake of …show more content…
As a result, they made the decision to ditch the Christian elements and instead shift the movie more towards a New Age belief system where all is good and people can learn to be one with the universe. Screenwriter Jennifer Lee explains why they decided to remove the Christian elements:
"I think there are a lot of elements of what she wrote that we have progressed as a society and we can move onto the other elements. That's what inclusiveness is to me in this film, it is really looking at all of us have a role to play in this no matter where we come from or what we look like."
"A Wrinkle in Time" Moves Beyond Inclusion to Exclusion
Not only does the movie version of the faith-filled book not include the Christian elements that were in the book, it outright excludes the Christian faith. According to a Movieguide review,
"At one point, one character mentions every spiritual, religious and historical icon, but seems to exclude Jesus Christ, as if Christianity was the one thing they didn't want to include. By comparison, Jesus is an iconic figure in the book."
Perhaps Hollywood Should Pay More Attention to
While watching the movie, I could see that the main characters in the book, both their names and traits, were the same in both the movie and book. However, aside from that there were many different as...
The movie used many representations, such as when Luke ate all of 50 of the eggs. The eggs represented all 50 prisoners, and after he ate the eggs he laid in a cross position. After Luke was beaten by the officers, and he goes back inside with all the other prisoners, he was eschewed just as Christ was when he was sacrificed. Luke’s prison number was 38, in the Bible, Luke 38:1 states that “For with God nothing shall be impossible.” (Retrospect Realm) Religion was one of the main key points that defined the 1960’s. In Joanne Beckmann 's article, “Religion in Post-World War II America” she discusses religion, and how it was changed dramatically in America during the 1960’s and 1970’s. She basically goes on to say how in the later in the 1960’s people were leaving the church and going for “new alternative religions.” Therefore, it was a dispute between religions and whether or not people should be leaving the church.The movie was made in 1967, which was right around the time all of the religious movements were occurring. The director, Stuart Rosenberg, used Luke’s character as a way to bring in God, but in an underlining way. This was important that the movie relates back to Christ, because Christ did not conform to the ideas and rules of the priests and pharisees who were the authority figures of the Jewish faith. As a
In today's world, it is very easy to allow our perception of Jesus to be skewed by our ideology, attempting to define Him in light of our preconceived views. As a Christian whose political views generally lean to the conservative side, I still must recognize that both conservativism and liberalism are man-made philosophies, both having their respective limitations in regards to biblical truth. As Christian sociologist Tony Campolo astutely points out:
Christianity is a culture of diversity. Various ethnicities practice and believe in the Christian mythology and faith. Christianity is deep rooted in love and it has not strayed too far away from the beliefs since the twenty first century. Jesus will and has always been known as the Messiah, who died and resurrected. The Sabbath day is still holy, and prayer is used to communicate to God. The old myths that Jesus was a human of male decent, who walked the earth performing miraculous works still remain. However, Christians today have broken away from what their religion looked like in the earlier days in the twenty-first century compared to the present. The Christian mythology did stay true to the significance
... This film didn't make any direct reference to Mary actually being the birth mother of Christ. They simply said that she was his mother, which I thought was clever, as some religions don't believe in the Immaculate Conception. What I particularly liked was the fact that Gibson didn't Americanize the movie. It wasn't advertised with big clichéd lines like "This Winter Experience The Passion."
The books, A Wrinkle in Time and And Then There Were None, both have many differences in the movie versions. The directors of both movies change the plot to make the movie see fit to what they may have imaged the book to be, while still keeping the story line the same.
The book has some things it only has, which supports the idea that the book and movie
Shrek' has won many awards such as Best Musical, Best Comedy, Best Animated Film etc. ' Shrek' shocked the world when it sold $110 million in DVD and Video sales in just it's first three days of release. The 'Shrek 2-Disc' DVD is now the #1 selling DVD of all time. 'Shrek' still remains the #1 grossing movie in 2001 at the U.S. box office. ' Shrek' cost approximately $70 million to make, but this does not include DreamWorks marketin... ...
The three most influential books in human history, the holy books of the three main Abrahamic religions, share a common though checkered history. With a string of familiar figures and incidents, each book builds upon its predecessor, sometimes retaining the exact nature of the story and sometimes giving it a new version. Each book seems to have been influenced by its specific purpose and the circumstances of the time it was revealed, with the stories meeting the demands of the day. I believe that the Quranic treatment of Jesus was to establish a firm monotheistic belief.
Many Christians try to avoid reading this book simply because to them they find it intimidating and it talks about the end times.
The Last Temptation of Christ by Martin Scorsese shows the life of Jesus Christ and his struggle such as fear, reluctance, depression, doubt, and fear. However, the movie departs from the accepted Biblical depiction of the life of Jesus Christ. In other words, the movie is remotely derived from the Gospel of John, Luke, Mark, and Mathew. The movie starts with the renunciation that it is not based on the above gospels. Instead the movie is derived from the book, The Last Temptation of Christ by Nikos Kazantzakis. The book focuses on the dual nature of Christ or his humanity (Greydanus).
Many times in Hollywood, a movie that intends to portray a novel can leave out key scenes that alter the novel’s message. Leaving out scenes from the novel is mainly done to time limits, however doing so can distort the author’s true purpose of the story. In history, movies were directed to intentionally leave out scenes that could alter the public’s opinion. This frequently lets the novel’s main points be swept under the rug. There were times of this at the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement, where white Americans were the only ones making movies.
But considering it had a $130 million budget, excluding marketing costs, the movie was considered a huge flop. " That was a valuable lesson for me a few years ago with After Earth. That was the most painful failure in my career," he told Esquire.
“Imagine” was released in 1970. The late 60’s was the time of the Vietnam War and also the time when the peace movement was at its peak. Anti-war demonstrations were a common sight on every street corner. Anti-communist sentiments were at an all time high following the war. The countless lives lost by both sides made plenty realize the fruitlessness of war and prompted them to spread the message of love, unity and peace.
So, why is Robinson Crusoe so sadly neglected among Christians when it is obvious that the book is a Christian classic? No doubt, abridged versions of the novel removes the incentive for readers to read the actual work. Many people have read a children's version of the novel or worst yet, they "have seen the movie.