Fox Finds Faith

I wondered how long it would take until a major movie studio realized that there was a potentially huge market for faith-based movies. Anyone paying attention to the box office numbers for "Passion of the Christ" would have figured that out pretty quickly, but movie execs are not the swiftest on the planet. After all, they still pump out "R" rated movies despite the fact that "G" and "PG" movies regularly outsell "R" movies at the box office.

The first studio to take advantage of the Christian market will be Fox:

The company that brought TV viewers racy and irreverent programs such as "Nip/Tuck," "Temptation Island" and "The Simpsons" has found religion.

In the biggest commitment of its sort by a Hollywood studio, News Corp.'s Fox Filmed Entertainment is expected to unveil plans today to capture the gargantuan Christian audience that made "The Passion of the Christ" a global phenomenon.

The home entertainment division of Rupert Murdoch's movie studio plans to produce as many as a dozen films a year under a banner called FoxFaith. At least six of those films will be released in theaters under an agreement with two of the nation's largest chains, AMC Theatres and Carmike Cinemas.

Of course, it's not enough to put out Christian-themed movies. They have to put out good Christian-themed movies if they want to tap into the huge faith-based market. The Christian market won't support junk just because it has a faith-related theme.