With the launch of FoxFaith, Twentieth Century Fox became the first major studio to create a division for the sole purpose of catering to the church-goers.
Ever since the extraordinary success of "The Passion of the Christ," Hollywood has been looking for a way to tap into this vast audience. It'll be interesting to see if Fox is the only ones to go this way or other studios will follow.
In a move that I think makes great business sense, Fox will focus on purchasing the films outright and then release them on DVD. With a network of 90,000 churches and over 14 million households in America alone, this should be a great success if they are careful in how they market and the projects they choose. This is a fickle crowd that can turn on you if you mess with things that are extremely important to them.
Another aspect of FoxFaith will be that they will market some small-budget films released for theater (most in the $5 million bracket) through Bigger Picture, which deals with specialty productions. The first marketing effort will be concerning "Love's Abiding Joy," by popular Christian novelist Janette Oke.
The film will be directed and co-written by Michael Landon Jr., son of the late actor.
Steve Feldstein, a spokesman for 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment said, "We saw an opportunity to fill a need in an underserved market." He also added that the success of "The Passion of the Christ," has been one of the key motivators and impetus for creating FoxFaith.
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