When the New York Times, Washington Post, and USA Today write major features on the Christian marketplace without the snide remarks that used to accompany such articles, you know that the Christian media marketplace has hit the Big Time.
At the Christian Booksellers’ Convention held recently in Denver, Colo., the major entertainment companies made an expensive, significant push to reach Christian audiences. Time Warner had a big booth. Disney, in conjunction with Zondervan, held a reception for “The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe.” Fox screened two movies exclusively for the Christian members of the Christian Booksellers’ Association, and all this was just the tip of the iceberg.
Christian producers who have long labored on the fringes of the entertainment industry now have three-, four-, and five-picture deals with major movie studios. Not to be outdone, Christian publishers are releasing a flood of products tied to movies from major companies.
The biggest movie at the convention was, of course, “The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe.” Every publisher had a C.S. Lewis or “Chronicles Of Narnia” tie-in – 167 books in all. One C.S. Lewis society ranked these books and said that Broadman-Holman’s were at the top of the list. Their four, coming out in November, include my book, “Narnia Beckons.”
Of course, there were also books tied in to “Harry Potter” and even “The Da Vinci Code.” The New York Times pointed out that one of the major Christian marketing companies has been hired to promote “The Da Vinci Code” movie to the church. Even our friends at Christianity Today are doing a whole issue about Christian history as it relates to “The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe.”
This is big business. As the newspaper articles note, Christians buy books, music and movies, and, whereas some people steal music and movies, most Christians seek to honor the commandment “Thou shalt not steal.” Therefore, while most of the publishing industry is going soft, USA Today points out that Christian publishing is strong, with “Wal-Mart and other big bookstore chains covering the top titles.”
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