Aslan Overcomes Harry

Last weekend, the Chronicles of Narnia passed the latest Harry Potter installment to become the number two grossing movie released in America during 2005. If you had surveyed 10,000 Hollywood types last October (prior to the release of both films) less than 4 people would have predicted this result. (I made that up, but you take the point.)

There is a vast market for conservative entertainment...that largely goes unserved. It is not surprising that Hollywood despises Christians. The moral swamp of the entertainment industry isn't going to want an absolute standard of right and wrong anywhere near them. But what is surprising is that, even hating the customer, they aren't interested in taking their (our) money.

Movies rooted in a conservative world view (such as Lord of the Rings) and movies with explicitly Christian themes (like Narnia) can not only succeed but be at the very top of the box office. I can't imagine any set of circumstances in which I would be a Hollywood insider, but as an outsider, I can tell you this: I would greatly prefer cold hard cash to cold gold-plated statues as a measure of success. Let somebody else make the edgy junk that bashes America and promotes immorality...I would laugh all the way to the bank.