Fox puts Faith in Christian market
New studio label will invest in titles with spiritual themes
By Susanne Ault -- Video Business, 9/19/2006
SEPT. 19 | 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment is expanding its outreach to the Christian market with a new label dubbed FoxFaith.
The studio plans to acquire at least six movies for theatrical and DVD distribution each year under the brand, with production budgets ranging that could top $10 million. Fox is also pledging $5 million in marketing behind each film and theatrical distribution in 40% of the U.S. through Carmike Theaters, AMC and other chains.
FoxFaith extends Fox’s ongoing appeal to Christian consumers, which has included distribution of The Passion of the Christ in 2004 and the launch last year of Web site FoxFaith.com.
The First FoxFaith project is the Oct. 6 theatrical bow Love’s Abiding Joy, the fourth filmed installment of Janette Oake’s Love Come Comes Softly book series. A DVD street date has not been determined.
“We found a market that was underserved, and we’re going about providing them with quality product,” Fox senior VP marketing communications Steve Feldstein said.
Strong reception to Passion, which grossed $371 million in the U.S. in 2004, showed the consumer appeal of entertainment with Christian themes. Fox wound up selling more than 12 million units of Passion on DVD, according to VB research.
Through 2005, Fox continued to connect with this Christian audience base through a targeted e-mail campaign.
Fox now communicates with a database of 14 million Christian households. Also, 90,000 Christian congregations regularly receive Fox title info.These ties to the faith-based marketplace have helped Fox successfully cross-over its mainstream content like Strawberry Shortcake and Fat Albert into Christian bookstore retailers.(VB 3-25 )
Fox debuted the Web site FoxFaith.com to compile all relevant titles for retailers, church leaders and consumers. Currently featured titles include Be Still, Mother Teresa, The End of the Spear and earlier Oake titles Love Comes Softly and Love’s Enduring Promise.
According to the studio, it has sold more than 30 million faith-based discs, and there are dedicated FoxFaith disc sections in 1,100 Christian book stores.
Fox has also been able to win over some mainstream audiences for such relatively niche spiritual content as Woman Thou Art Loosed, which sold more than 1 million copies on DVD.
Fox hopes its label can be enjoyed by all, and not just by those of a particular religion.
“We’re in the business of entertainment, and not in the business of preaching and proselytizing,” Feldstein said.
Helping Fox expand the genre, national retail chains are increasingly embracing faith-based DVD sections. Walmart.com’s religion and spirituality section is highly defined, and the mass merchant sorts titles by such sub-categories as ‘Biblical,’ ‘Drama,’ and ‘Pope John Paul II.’
Since Passion, many studios other than Fox have been ramping up faith-based releases. Lionsgate has sold over 11 million units of its Tyler Perry DVDs. Madea’s Family Reunion, the latest theatrical featuring Perry’s blend of humor and faith, sold 2 million units during its July street week.
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is behind many of the popular Christian thriller Left Behind titles.Also, in April Sony’s film division inked a three-year theatrical and DVD premiere output agreement featuring content from Bishop T.D. Jakes.
