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Hollywood Finds Jesus
NewsMax ^ | 7/21/05 | Limbacher

Posted on 07/21/2005 7:03:47 AM PDT by Tumbleweed_Connection

Hollywood has found a new marketing tool � Jesus Christ.

Following the tremendous success of Mel Gibson�s "Passion of the Christ� � which took in $370 million at the domestic box office � mainstream Hollywood is adjusting to what it perceives to be a rising religiosity in America.

Directors, studio executives and marketing experts have been seeking to entice an audience that made its power felt with "Passion,� according to a report in the International Herald Tribune.

"Mel Gibson did us a service,� said Bob Waliszewski, a media specialist with Focus on the Family, an evangelical group.

"The Hollywood elites� eyes widened big time. They said, �I thought the church was dead. Is it possible that we don�t know what�s happening in state after state?� And the answer is a resounding yes.�

There are an estimated 30 million evangelical and fundamentalist Christians in the U.S., and Hollywood � mired in a prolonged slump at the box office � is making a concerted effort to mollify and attract that audience.

# Actor Peter Sarsgaard said that while shooting the Disney thriller "Flightplan,� he was told to strike the word "Jesus� from his dialogue; the directors didn't want him to "take the Lord's name in vain."

# Focus on the Family was one of about 30 groups invited to see an early trailer of Disney�s "Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,� based on C.S. Lewis� works, which Christian groups regard as an allegory of Christ�s Resurrection.

# Jonathan Bock, who founded Grace Hill Media to specialize in Christian marketing, was hired to help promote "Kingdom of Heaven� and "Cinderella Man� and is advising Sony on "The Da Vinci Code,� based on a novel that challenges basic Christian dogma.

# When Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie steal a neighbor�s car in "Mr. & Mrs. Smith,� a crucifix is seen hanging from the rear-view mirror. And in the next scene the two wear borrowed jackets that read "Jesus Rocks.�

"We decided to make the next-door neighbor, whose crucifix it is, be hip, young, cool Christians," the movie's director, Doug Liman, told the New York Times news service. "It's literally in there for no other reason than I thought: 'This is cool.'"

# Universal Studios screened the movie "Ray" for church groups as a way to build positive "buzz" for the film by word-of-mouth; the director had alread expurgated the script to mollify the film's backer, Philip Anschutz.

Marc Shmuger, vice chairman of Universal Pictures, said the Christian audience is "a well-formed community, it�s identifiable, it has very specific tastes and preferences and is therefore a group that can be located and directly marketed to.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 65533; andnumber65533; faith; hollywood; news; thepassion
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To: greyfoxx39

Looks like a character encoding problem.


21 posted on 07/21/2005 7:24:04 AM PDT by frogjerk
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection

Hollywood will turn Jesus into a gay man who enables drug addicts. The "judgmental" and strong Jesus who threw the money changers out of the temple will be replaced by some Hollywood hippie/wimp who just wonders "why can't we all get along".


22 posted on 07/21/2005 7:26:33 AM PDT by GOPJ (A person who will lie for you, will lie against you.)
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To: greyfoxx39

Seems like the characters "-" and " " " and others cannot be correctly encoded from the original story to the posting on FR by the poster.


23 posted on 07/21/2005 7:28:29 AM PDT by frogjerk
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To: D Rider

So is this &#65533 thing part of the Da Vinci Code somehow?


24 posted on 07/21/2005 7:32:26 AM PDT by FormerLib (Kosova: "land stolen from Serbs and given to terrorist killers in a futile attempt to appease them.")
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection
Click:

25 posted on 07/21/2005 7:37:03 AM PDT by ppaul
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection

65533...

"Jenny, Jenny who can I turn to?"

Oops.

Wrong number.


26 posted on 07/21/2005 7:58:52 AM PDT by linkinpunk
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To: jtminton

"was hired to help promote "Kingdom of Heaven"

HAHAHAHAHAHHA

This wan't a pro-christian film! It was an outrage of monsterous proportions.


27 posted on 07/21/2005 8:00:12 AM PDT by Frenetic
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection

What a bunch of &#65533!


28 posted on 07/21/2005 8:03:58 AM PDT by Carpe Cerevisi
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To: Frenetic

What's even more ironic, is that a remake of "The Omen" has been given a green light is on a fast track to be produced (shooting starts in October). I guess as Christ's popularity rises, so does the Antichrist's!


29 posted on 07/21/2005 8:23:26 AM PDT by reegs
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection
Jesus, Joseph and Mary


30 posted on 07/21/2005 8:37:16 AM PDT by Fawn
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To: reegs

"I guess as Christ's popularity rises, so does the Antichrist's!"

- At least there is a clear destinction between good an evil. In 'Kingdom Of Hellvin' they make the mohammedan invaders out to to be the victims.


31 posted on 07/21/2005 8:45:13 AM PDT by Frenetic
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection
If you would like on or off my &#65533 ping list please PM me.
32 posted on 07/21/2005 8:49:04 AM PDT by el_chupacabra (The time has come for someone to put his foot down. And that foot is me.)
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To: FormerLib
So is this &#65533 thing part of the Da Vinci Code somehow?

I don't &#65533 know. But it &#65533 is kinda catchy, isn't it. &#65533

33 posted on 07/21/2005 9:23:47 AM PDT by D Rider
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To: Tumbleweed_Connection
Hollywood�s attempt to become "One of us� is transparent to all. It�s like Hillary pretending to be "The people� conservative.�.
34 posted on 07/21/2005 10:03:31 AM PDT by scott7278 (Before I give you the benefit of my reply, I would like to know what we are talking about.)
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To: FormerLib
So is this &#65533 thing part of the Da Vinci Code somehow?

See for yourself by adding the 5 numbers and then dividing by 5 and then see what you get.

6+5+5+3+3=22
22/5= 4.4

If you are not scared out of your wits by now, I am not sure what it would take to help you "get it." This number obviously illustrates materialized color operating on the 49th vibration.

Just listen to Madonna's lyrics in the song, "Vogue" and tell me that you don't agree.

35 posted on 07/21/2005 10:59:40 AM PDT by Ghengis (Alexander was a wuss!)
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To: Ghengis
If you are not scared out of your wits by now, I am not sure what it would take to help you "get it." This number obviously illustrates materialized color operating on the 49th vibration.

Just listen to Madonna's lyrics in the song, "Vogue".

Accompanied by an augmented seven of nine diminished chord in the polyponaltonal variation.

36 posted on 07/21/2005 3:03:05 PM PDT by greyfoxx39
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