GRAND THEFT AUTO IV, an ultra-violent, lewd video game, set a record of $500 million in its first week of release this spring.
At first glance, these earnings put the movie box office market to shame. Even if you add international earnings, for example, the latest Hollywood blockbuster, IRON MAN, only earned half that amount in its first week, about $250 million.
These numbers, however, don’t show that GRAND THEFT AUTO IV sells for $60 a unit, retail, while the most expensive theater tickets (not counting IMAX and specialty prices) for IRON MAN were about $11 each. Thus, instead of earning twice as much money as IRON MAN in its first week, this awful video game should have earned five or six times as much.
Of course, if you factor in eventual home video sales and rentals, and earnings from being shown on cable and network television, the net income of positive movies like IRON MAN, SPIDER-MAN 3, I AM LEGEND, and PRINCE CASPIAN will far exceed the individual earnings of abhorrent entertainment like GRAND THEFT AUTO.
That should not absolve parents and grandparents, however (much less churches and synagogues), from taking an active role in redeeming the entertainment choices of children and grandchildren and supporting media ministries like MOVIEGUIDE®.
Next time you or your friends and neighbors complain about the immoral pagan behavior of so many (but not all or even most) of today’s children and teenagers, you might want to think about that.
Donations to MOVIEGUIDE®, by the way, are tax deductible and can be made by visiting www.movieguide.org or by calling 1-800-899-6684 or 1-800-577-6684.
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