Wholesome Movies Make More Money
February 20, 2013

The Good, the True and the Beautiful:  Box Office Study Shows Movies with Christian, Redemptive Worldviews and Values Earn the Most Moviegoers prefer movies with Christian, redemptive values, reveals an annual study of box office figures among the major movies produced by Hollywood. According to the 2013 Annual Report to the Entertainment Industry by the Christian Film & Television Commission®, an advocacy group in Hollywood, movies with very strong Christian, redemptive worldviews reflecting traditional moral values earned four times as much money on average as movies with very strong Non-Christian, Anti-Christian, or mixed worldviews, $90.78 million versus $20.22 million. Movies with very strong humanist or atheist worldvi...

LES MISÉRABLES Takes Home The Epiphany Prize
February 18, 2013

LES MIS Takes $100,0000 Epiphany Prize; Most Inspiring Movie of 2012 LES MISÉRABLES starring Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, and Anne Hathaway took home the $100,000 Epiphany Prize for Most Inspiring Movie of 2012 at the 21st Annual Movieguide® Faith & Values Awards Friday night. The Game Show Network’s THE AMERICAN BIBLE CHALLENGE starring Jeff Foxworthy won the $100,000 Epiphany Prize for Most Inspiring TV Program of 2012. Supported by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation since 1996, the Epiphany Prozes are giving to the best, most entertaining, most inspiring, and spiritually uplifting movies and TV programs that “greatly increase man’s love or understanding of God.” The Faith & Values Awards were he...

Kairos Prize Winners!
February 18, 2013

The Kairos Prize winners were announced Friday night, February 15th as part of the Movieguide® Awards. Simon Swart, Executive Vice President and General Manager, North America, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, presented the winners: $25,000 Grand Prize Randall Hahn wrote GIDEON, an emotionally gripping tale of a mysterious boy with Christ-like powers who must bring together a racially charged town before the Mayor’s vindictive son murders him. It’s a story of love, healing and resplendent redemption. $15,000 First Runner Up Romeo Ciolfi scribed PLAY BALL, a heart-warming story of a minister whose life is now crippled by early dementia. With overwhelming visions of his deceased son and mother, his final sermo...

Movieguide® Awards Winners!
February 16, 2013

21st Annual Movieguide® Faith & Values Awards Gala and Report to the Entertainment Industry Winners and Nominees Feb. 15, 2013 at the Universal Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles 10 BEST MOVIES FOR FAMILIES ICE AGE: CONTINENTAL DRIFT (Best Movie for Families) MADAGASCAR 3:  EUROPE’S MOST WANTED THE ODD LIFE OF TIMOTHY GREEN JOURNEY 2: THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND WRECK-IT RALPH HERE COMES THE BOOM WON'T BACK DOWN CHIMPANZEE THE SECRET WORLD OF ARRIETTY JIRO DREAMS OF SUSHI   10 BEST MOVIES FOR MATURE AUDIENCES MARVEL'S THE AVENGERS (Best Movie for Mature Audiences) LES MISERABLES THE DARK KNIGHT RISES SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY ACT OF VALOR THE AMAZING SP...

This Valentine’s Day Don’t Settle
February 14, 2013

This Valentine’s Day Don’t Settle By David Outten, Production Editor According to Hollywood, people fall in love. They do. They also fall out of love in huge numbers. When “love” is understood to be a warm feeling about a member of the opposite sex, there’s the very real problem of feelings growing cold. When love is a profound commitment to treat someone a specific way, however, the feelings of love grow stronger over the years. Falling in love is fun. There’s much to be said in favor of it. It’s better than your favorite team winning the Super Bowl or the World Series. However, the thrill of such victories, while very exciting, is very brief. You’re left with fond memories but the excitement fades quickly. ...

Foster Friess Puts His Hand To Movies
February 12, 2013

  Lynn and Foster Friess create the $50,000 Friess Free Enterprise Prize, to be Awarded at the 21st Annual Movieguide® Awards, Feb 15th. By Natalie Fertig As the buzz for the 21st Annual Movieguide® Awards builds, the show famous for singling out family-friendly movies has announced a new award to their roster. Foster Friess and his wife, Lynn Friess, sponsor the Friess Free Enterprise Prize, an impressive addition to the Hollywood awards landscape. Accompanied by an impressive $50,000, the Prize awards the movie that, “through fine craftsmanship and inspirational storytelling, does the most to encourage appreciation of free markets, ownership, and stewardship.” Lynn and Foster Friess are well-known humanitarians, do...

Hollywood Demographics
February 06, 2013

  Who Goes to the Movies? Source:  MPAA U.S./Canada Theatrical Market Statistics, Attendance Demographics for 2011, March 2012 All of these figures apply to Americans and Canadians seeing movies in theaters in 2011, the last year for which statistics are available. The MPAA will publish a new study of movie attendance in March 2012. All Moviegoers by Age Group, 2011 AGE PERCENTAGE OF MOVIEGOERS PERCENTAGE OF POPULATION 2-11 15% 14% 12-17 10% 8% 18-24 12% 10% 25-39 24% 21% 40-49 14% 14% 50-59 12% 14% 60+ 13% 19%   Most Frequent Moviegoers by Age Group, 2010 AGE PERCENTAGEOF MOVIEGOERS PERCENTAGEOF POPULATION 2-11 7% 14% 12-17 16% ...

Kevin Sorbo from the Set of ABEL’S FIELD
February 05, 2013

[caption id="attachment_454211" align="aligncenter" width="635"] Kevin Sorbo[/caption] By Carl Kozlowski, Contributing Writer Kevin Sorbo attained worldwide fame as two iconic action characters in long-running TV series, HERCULES and ANDROMEDA. There’s always been a lot more to Sorbo than meets the eye, as he has always been regarded as one of the nicest guys in Hollywood rather than a clichéd, muscle-bound tough guy. That inner core of calm and kindness stems from his faith, and it has also inspired part of the direction his career has taken in recent years, as he has been making the move from TV to movie star with a mix of action films and faith-based projects. In fact, he even won the MOVIEGUIDE® Grace Award for Most Inspira...

Signings at Sundance
January 31, 2013

By Evy Baehr, Associate Editor of MOVIEGUIDE® Joseph Gordon-Levitt has written, directed, and produced a movie entitled DON JON’S ADDICTION that premiered at the 2013 Sundance film festival. It has received the largest bid for a film so far.  Relativity has paid $4 Million for rights to distribute it, with a commitment to spend $25 million on marketing and a wide release.  However, the movie is said to have graphic sexual content that would lead to an NC-17 rating. This rating usually results in an extremely low box office return for the movie.  As Movieguide® states time after time, only a very small audience will attend movies with an NC-17 rating. DON JON’S ADDICTION is the story of a man who is a womanizer and bart...

The Oscars Are Not For Families!
January 31, 2013

  By Evy Baehr, associate editor of MOVIEGUIDE® This year the host of the Oscars telecast is Seth MacFarlane.  In addition, Mark Wahlberg from Seth's movie TED along with the talking vile teddy bear named Ted will also make an appearance during the awards show set for Sunday night, February 24th. Hmm, this sounds like it will completely ostracize a huge demographic, the family audience.  The movie TED was one of Movieguide’s lowest rated films of  last year, with a -4.  Movieguide advised audiences of all ages against seeing this film for its sexual themes and the use of the F word.  Movieguide counted at least 124 obscenities. For this reason, Movieguide advises families to be careful and discerning if watching...