Narnia-Mania Hitting Its Stride This Week

This coming weekend the next big epic movie series kicks off with the release of the Chronicles of Narnia. There is a big push to market the movie to Christian churches, must as the Passion of the Christ was marketed heavily to pastors and churches prior to its release. John Fund takes a look at the business side in today's Political Diary:

The stunning success of Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" two years ago galvanized Hollywood to take religion seriously again. Nothing demonstrates that more than the decision of the Walt Disney Co. to make sure its "Chronicles of Narnia" fantasy epic, which is set to open on December 9, will be marketed to Christians, whom Disney hopes will find appealing the allegorical references to the Bible in the story by the late British author C.S. Lewis.

Disney passed on producing the fantasy adventure films based on J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings," and after their success the company made certain to snap up the rights to the Lewis books, which grew out of late-night talks between Tolkien and Lewis about the nature of God and the basis of myths. Disney quickly made a deal with Doug Gresham, a stepson of Lewis, and a production company owned by Denver businessman Philip Anschutz, a leader in family entertainment. The $150 million epic stars Liam Neeson and Rupert Everett.

Disney will pour additional millions into targeted marketing to Christians by hiring the same public relations firm that generated interest among churchgoers for "Passion of the Christ." In Orange County, Calif. just one evangelical church called Saddleback has booked 13 theaters with 20,000 seats for a special screening the day before the film's official release date.

Focus on the Family, headquartered in Colorado Springs, has already shown the film to 700 pastors and received enthusiastic reviews for the story of a Christ-like lion who dies and is resurrected to save a mythical world called Narnia. Lewis described his books as "sneaking the gospel past the watchful dragons" of secular reviewers. Disney is conducting separate marketing campaigns to groups such as public school teachers and Hispanics but Christians will receive special attention. It's also issuing three versions of the film's score, including one featuring an "inspirational" soundtrack by Christian artists.

Expect all this to create a backlash. British fantasy author Philip Pullman has already attacked the Lewis book as a piece of "racist" and "misogynist" religious propaganda. But such criticism will only fuel interest in the film and boost sales. Ted Baehr, who runs the Christian-entertainment web site Movieguide.org, says he was surprised when in 1980 he created a version of the Lewis book for CBS, and he was later inundated with mail from people for whom the film provoked a spiritual response. "It's an enchanting fantasy, but not something I expected to move people," he told me. "I expect the film will surprise people too."

I didn't take up my church's (Saddleback) offer of advance sale tickets, mainly because I already have discount movie tickets that I bought at Costco, so why pay more just to see it a few days early. Besides that, I never read the books so the whole story is a mystery to me. I never read the Lord of the Rings books either, and I was bored to death by the first movie (I never tried to see the other two). I guess I'll have to see how it plays out on the big screen.

What's interesting about all this is that Disney did not want to make this movie due to the Christian overtones, but after receiving a great deal of financial assistance from Philip Anschutz, decided to go ahead and make the film. I doubt that they'll be sorry.