By Alex Murashko
HOLLYWOOD, CA (ANS) – God’s Not Dead: A Light in the Darkness is positioned, as was the case for the first movie in the series when it came out with two other God-centered films in the same year, to make it another season that the Bible gains major real estate in Hollywood.
I Can Only Imagine opened last weekend, Paul, Apostle of Christ opens this coming weekend, and God’s Not Dead (3) opens Easter weekend.
“We saw this in 2014,” said David A.R. White, God’s Not Dead leading actor and Pure Flix Entertainment founding partner. “There were three faith-based movies that really hit it and that was with God’s Not Dead, Heaven is For Real and Son of God. All of a sudden we had these movies come out and it was ‘The Year of the Bible’ as they called it. There was a trifecta so to speak.”
White was at the Los Angeles premier of God’s Not Dead: A Light in Darkness at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood Tuesday evening, just a couple days after the highly successful opening of I Can Only Imagine. The Roadside Attractions-Lionsgate’s movie “crushed early box office forecasts with a surprisingly strong $17.1 million at 1,629 locations in North America,” Variety reported.
“Obviously, we can only be thrilled for ‘I Can Only Imagine,’ the Erwins (co-directors), and Kevin Downes (producer),” White said.
When asked about what the current faith-based film trifecta and God’s Not Dead coming so shortly after the box office smash means, White didn’t attempt any red-carpet prophecy. “Whether or not it happens again we really don’t know. We don’t control that,” he said.
When asked the same question, I Can Only Imagine Producer Kevin Downes said it’s a win-win situation for the faith-based film industry. “I think it’s a jolt of energy. At the end of the day, we all root for each other,” Downes said. “The LA Times came out with an article recently ‘wondering’ if Christian films were in a slump, but guess what, God showed up, and the audience showed up, and the numbers are huge.”
He added, “Whether it’s my film or someone else’s film, it’s just energizing. We are alive and well. Jesus is alive and well, and it’s a great time to be making films.”
