Welcome to Breakpoint, a daily look at an ever-changing culture through the lens of unchanging truth. For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street.
Well, it is typically the season of summer blockbusters, but this year has featured a number of independent and faith-based films that are offering redemptive stories, and they've been performing quite well, both at the box office and via streaming platforms. The question is, are we witnessing a kind of disruption in the film industry? For example, both A Great Awakening and Young Washington were released in theaters nationwide and both garnered positive reviews. Great Awakening was produced by Sight and Sound Films, a company better known for their live theater locations. Young Washington opened number two at the box office on Independence Day and was produced by Wonder Project and distributed by Angel Studios.
Neil Harmon, the co-founder and CEO of Angel, had this to say, quote, Young Washington takes us back when the leaders we now admire were still discovering who they would become. It's a deeply human story about growth, sacrifice, humility, and leadership earned through adversity and preserved by divine providence. End quote. Unlike the new supergirl movie, which is tanking at the box office or various AI-generated videos these days, this is a movie about a real hero from real history, something all Americans, especially young ones, can benefit from seeing. Added to the list here should also be Joe LeConti's documentary, Benjamin Rush, the American Revolution's Indispensable Doctor.
Along with A Great Awakening, it's among the top 10 most viewed wonder films on Amazon Prime. Joining in on this American fervor is Hillsdale College, who produced Revolutionary America, which was distributed by Fathom Entertainment and narrated by none other than Tom Selleck. It tells the story of the American Revolution through the experience of Americans during that period. And speaking of Fathom Entertainment, they just recently announced, along with Lionsgate, that the 2004 film, The Passion of the Christ, which depicts the 12 hours leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus, will be re-released in theaters this September. And that's in preparation for the sequel, The Resurrection of the Christ, which is scheduled to premiere with Part 1 in May 2027 and Part 2 in May 2028.
Now, if there really is a real disruption that's taking place in Hollywood, it's because people seem to want movies that are not only innovative and made with excellence, but are also rooted in reality. Film critic Matt Zoller Seitz called Young Washington a slam dunk, a modern example of the sort of movie that used to be a permanent asset in Hollywood's studio portfolio, a well-crafted but accessible biopic. that respects its audience, and we can always use more of those. Instead, Hollywood has now resorted mostly to re releasing hits from years past and recycling old stories with an increasingly woke accent in the new version, or just sheer repetition, a seemingly unending flow of sequels and prequels. A recent article in The Atlantic even asked this question.
Is this the worst ever era of American pop culture? For example, one of the year's top summer films was Toy Story 5. Let that sink in.
Now, Christians who are living in this time of what Ross Douthett has called decadence with no new ideas and very little new innovation, a decadence that has also infected Hollywood, we have a responsibility to consume entertainment differently than our peers. Recently, Pastor Carlos Arazo put it this way: quote, As Christians, we do not consume entertainment passively. We consume it with discernment because every story is shaping a worldview and we want it to be the word of God, not the world, that shapes ours. And there's also an opportunity for Christians to produce, and that cannot begin with just the same old addiction to whatever is trendy and new. As Russell Kirk observed, the best created works will appeal to enduring truths and therefore to posterity.
And that can be done by both telling true historical events, but also by creating new stories within Christianity's meaningful moral framework. There's an opening here for Christians to speak with excellence into the arts, including with film, and to do so with wisdom that's drawn from the rich moral universe of the Christian worldview. To paraphrase C.S. Lewis, we don't need more Christian movies, we need more movies written by Christians. We need Christian creativity over every square inch of God's creation, and that certainly includes film.
For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street with Breakpoint. Today's Breakpoint was co-authored with Andrew Carico. If you're a fan of Breakpoint, leave us a review wherever you download podcasts. And for more resources or to share this commentary with others, go to breakpoint.org.
