Did anyone know who Mark Burnet and Roma Downey were, other than TV actors or producers. Protestants ate their movie “Son of God” up. It’s made over a 50 million dollars, and all it was was a copy and paste of the TV mini-series. People like Joel Osteen and Rick Warren bought out whole theaters and gave the tickets away so people could go see it.
No, I don’t think anyone outside of Hollywood knows who Burnett is, and Downey’s fan base from her “Touched by an Angel” days is not big enough by itself to make a hit movie. But “Son of God” didn’t have to make a fortune at the box office because, as you say, it was a cut and paste job. Almost every ticket sold so far ($50 million) is profit.
“Noah” is a different story. The original budget was $130 million. Since then, there have been reshoots and re-editing, plus new publicity campaigns. It cost around $180 million to get “Noah” in the theaters. That means it needs to make $400 million at the box office to get into black ink.
The tracking (and the audiences I’ve been watching the trailers with) say that figure is out of reach. “Noah” will be a write-down like last year’s “Lone Ranger.”
Roma Downey is a Roman Catholic, and the movie also seems to have been doing well with the audience she aimed it at, as well as with Protestant Christians.
“”Our friends at Saint Benedict Press/TAN will be releasing a coffee table book to coincide with the release of Roma Downey’s and Mark Burnett’s film Son of God which will be in theaters at the end of the month. The Son of God: The Life of Jesus Christ in Pictures seems aimed at a Catholic audience and includes a foreword by Roma Downey. “”
I think it ironic that the film casts Peter as THE leader of the Church.