The president of a Hollywood production unit says movie studios are making more faith-based films than they have in the past — but that they will continue to do so only if the faith-based audience buys tickets for them.
“It really is … about the community supporting the movies and coming to see the films,” said Glenn Ross, the president of Universal 1440 Entertainment, which is a production entity of Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.
Universal 1440 Entertainment was involved in Unbroken: Path to Redemption but also had a hand in mainstream releases such as The Land Before Time and Bring It On. Ross made the comments during a meeting with faith-based media prior to the release of Unbroken: Path to Redemption.
“We believe that the faith-based audience wants a better-quality product that’s better produced,” Ross said. “The studios know how to do that and I think it’s a matter of just letting the studios know we want these movies.”
In addition to Unbroken: Path to Redemption, Ross worked with the first two VeggieTales movies.
“We have three more scripts in development right now that are faith-based stories that we’re hoping to be able to make,” he said.
Blockbuster movies always will be the studio’s “bread and butter,” Ross said. But that doesn’t mean the faith-based crowd is being ignored. In fact, Ross said, it’s the opposite,
“Whether it’s Universal or Sony or Focus [Features], more and more films about faith are being made because Hollywood has realized that there was an audience out there for it. And more importantly there’s an audience out there that’s craving for quality production, quality storytelling,” Ross said. “So I actually think Hollywood is finding its way more toward faith-based films and quite frankly, the more the faith-based community supports the films, the more the studios are going to be encouraged to do it.”
— by Michael Foust
Foust has covered the intersection of faith and entertainment for more than a decade.