In Hollywood, a Religious 'Revolution'

At the movies this fall, Josh O'Connor plays a hot priest with a complicated past, Keanu Reeves is an angel who lost his wings, and Elizabeth Olsen has a romantic dilemma in the afterlife. Hollywood, it seems, has found God. But it's not just star-studded, big-budget Netflix films or A24 indies that are grappling with religion and its place in entertainment. In recent years, there's been an explosion of films and TV shows made from a confessional perspective that evangelize or portray a particular faith, often Christianity, that have performed particularly well with audiences, per the AP.

These selections include everything from animated biblical films like the upcoming musical David, which Angel Studios says exceeded $14 million in theatrical presale tickets ahead of its release on Friday, to docudramas like Martin Scorsese's The Saints. While episodes from that show's second season are still being released, the first season, which premiered last year, was the most watched on the Fox Nation platform. "There has been a revival, a revolution of sorts, of spirituality and faith content," says Traci Blackwell, head of targeted content for Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios.

Trying to define what counts as faith-based programming, however, is a bit like trying to define what counts as pornography. For instance, themes of belief, guilt, and "foolish grace" abound in O'Connor's Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, the third of filmmaker Rian Johnson's hit Netflix franchise—but few would call it a religious film. For studios and filmmakers, acknowledging that a project is told from a religious perspective can also be a double-edged sword. "If you're buying in on going to the movie theater for a faith-based movie, you know you're gonna have people around you who are really into the experience," says Comscore media analyst Paul Dergarabedian. "The minute you say faith-based, though, it kind of puts a movie in a box."

While it's too soon to tell whether there's been a sea change in Hollywood or if this is just a short-term fad, the success of some of these projects has stood out amid an otherwise perilous time in the business. "Hollywood usually follows money," Jason Klarman, Fox News Media's chief digital and marketing officer, says as he touts Fox Nation's packed slate of upcoming faith-based content, including Zachary Levi's David: King of Israel docudrama. "Even when the trend ends, we'll still be doing it." More here.