A NY Times article reports
"The film, with a production budget of close to $10 million, has an openly devout tone and a missionary message, along with a missionary marketing plan: 3,200 churches showed the film last month in exchange for a modest licensing fee of about $100 per site.
But the producer Peter Lalonde, a Christian who brought the movie rights to Sony last year in the wake of the success of "The Passion of the Christ," said the studio was continuing to underserve the religious market, even with that grass-roots screening effort."
If I was certain that Sony Pictures was enthusiastically pitching the product, I'd lean towards avoiding Sony made films. But I'm not so sure that's the case.
The NY Times article reports,
Peter Lalonde, a Christian who brought the movie rights to Sony last year in the wake of the success of "The Passion of the Christ," said the studio was continuing to underserve the religious market, even with that grass-roots screening effort.
"It has been a battle," said Mr. Lalonde, who called Sony's $1.2 million marketing budget for the picture inadequate. "It's been just a fascinating ride for us. Enlightening. Everybody sees this marketplace, but there's a barrier to entry, which is a cultural barrier."
Yes. I'd agree thee's a cultural barrier. Or we might consider it a reality barrier. This book series is treated by many, many readers, not as entertaining fiction, but as a loose description of the reality they fantasize is unfolding. The Bush administration has been pandering to this group of people since Bush started running for office.
Sony should know that there is a price to be paid for pandering to extremists. But so far, I'm not ready to stop watching Sony films. Matter of fact, I'm feeling okay with the way they handled it.
They may lose the rights to future sequels in the Left Behind book series because the producer isn't satisfied with Sony's marketing efforts.
We have enough problems with Talibanic fundamentalists here in the US. We don't need major corporations encouraging the insanity.
Frankly, I tried, for at least 15 minutes, to find an email address for Sony's home office, either in the US or Japan, but couldn't find one. If I had, it would be here, so you could contact them and tell them that you consider this kind of movie partisan and extremist, and something that would incline you to avoid purchasing Sony Products. If you find some good email addresses, drop me a note and I'll add them to this article.
