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International Treasure! Moviegoers Overseas Favor Clean Movies with Strong Christian, Moral and Redemptive Content, New Three-Year Study Shows

June 12, 2009:  Los Angeles, Calif. – Family advocate and Christian media scholar Dr. Ted Baehr, publisher of Movieguide®: The Family Guide to Movies and Entertainment, announced today that a new three-year study of the Top 25 movies released in 2006-2008 earning the most money overseas shows that international moviegoers prefer movies with strong or very strong Christian, moral and/or redemptive content and values.

“This study is significant because it matches our annual study of the Top 25 Movies at the Box Office in America and Canada and the top home video sales annually,” Dr. Baehr asserted, “and because Hollywood now makes more money overseas than it does in the United States.”

The Movieguide® study found that 20 of the Top 25 Movies Overseas in 2006-2008, or 80%, contained strong or very strong Christian, moral, redemptive, and even biblical content, earning $8.39 billion out of $10.59 billion total, or 79.2% of the money among the Top 25.

“That’s an average of $419.5 million per movie!” Dr. Baehr exclaimed.

For just a couple of the best examples, Dr. Baehr cited SPIDER-MAN 3 and INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL, both of which actually made it into the Top 10 Movies Overseas in 2006-2008.

“SPIDER-MAN 3 has a very strong Christian worldview with very strong redemptive themes, where the hero goes in repentance to the foot of the Cross to shed his sins,” Dr. Baehr explained. “The new INDIANA JONES movie shows the hero rejecting the evil tyranny and mind control of Communism and ends with a brief church wedding scene that quotes the words of Jesus Christ in Matthew 19 and Verse 24 of Chapter Two of the Book of Genesis in the Old Testament!”

Dr. Baehr added, “None of the Top 25 Movies Overseas in 2006 to 2008 were R-rated, but nine of them were rated G or PG. Also, only three of the Top 25 had more than 25 obscenities and profanities, only three had any depicted sexual content, only two had any sexual nudity in them, only four had any very strong action violence, only five (20%) had any drug references, and only 10, or 40%, had any scenes of drunkenness or alcohol abuse.

“Moviegoers clearly prefer clean movies with strong Christian, moral, biblical, and redemptive content,” he said. “They want good to triumph over evil and justice to prevail. They want to be inspired.”

The following chart lists the kind and percent of moral, theological and political content Movieguide® found in these Top 25 Movies:

Top 25 Movies at the Overseas Box Office, 2006-2008

Content

Percent

Strong/Very Strong Christian, Moral and/or Redemptive Content

80%

Strong/Very Strong Pagan or Mixed Content

36%

Strong/Very Strong Capitalist, Pro-American and/or Patriotic Content

32%

Strong/Very Strong Anti-Christian or Anti-Biblical Content

12%

Strong/Very Strong Occult Content

12%

Strong/Very Strong False Religious Content

12%

Strong/Very Strong Political Correct Content and/or Revisionist History

12%

Strong/Very Strong Romantic/Liberal Philosophies

8%

Strong/Very Strong Pro-Environmentalist Content

8%

Strong/Very Strong Homosexual Content

4%

Strong/Very Strong Feminist Content

4%<;o:p>

Strong/Very Strong Unrebuked Anti-Capitalist or Anti-American Content

4%

Strong/Very Strong Pro-Atheist Content

0%

Strong/Very Strong Unrebuked Communist Content

0%

Strong/Very Strong Unrebuked Socialiost Content

0%

Besides SPIDER-MAN 3 and the INDIANA JONES movie, the study also included such top movie releases in 2006, 2007 and 2008 as THE DARK KNIGHT, I AM LEGEND (which had a very strong overtly Christian worldview), WALL-E (which had a very strong redemptive Christian worldview focusing on a heroic example of the Christian definition of love), ICE AGE: THE MELTDOWN, PRINCE CASPIAN (based on a Christian novel written for children and teenagers), IRON MAN, TRANSFORMERS, and the last two PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN movies (both of which contained overt Christian references at the center of am ultimately redemptive plot).

A Movieguide® study of the Top 25 movies overseas in 2005, 2006 and 2007 showed very similar results to the new three-year study, Dr. Baehr noted.

Dr. Baehr is chairman of the Christian Film & Television Commission® (CFTVC) ministry and Good News Communications, Inc., which publishes Movieguide® (www.movieguide.org). The organization is an international non-profit ministry dedicated to “redeeming the values of the entertainment industry by influencing industry executives and by informing and equipping the public about the influence of the entertainment media.”

Every year around Oscar® time, at the Annual Movieguide® Faith & Values Awards Gala, Dr. Baehr presents his Annual Report to the Entertainment Industry, which shows what kind of content in movies and home videos earns the most money and what kind of content earns the least money.

For more information, visit www.movieguide.org or call 1-888-248-6689.

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For Immediate Release

Note:  To arrange an interview with Dr. Ted Baehr, please call Sandra Bell at (770) 886-8598.

 

Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.

What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.


Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.

What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.


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