An Unprecedented Faith-Based Mega-Movie Season Could Sway The Culture Wars In 2027
(ANALYSIS) Next year is shaping up to be an unprecedented year for faith-based films, creating a mega-movie season in early spring.
The much-anticipated Greta Gerwig-directed and Netflix-produced “Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew” release date has been delayed to Feb. 12. Meanwhile, the first part of “The Resurrection of the Christ,” Mel Gibson’s highly anticipated follow-up to the classic 2004 “The Passion of the Christ,” will now be May 6.
Most industry focus has been on “The Magician’s Nephew.” And for good reason. Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos has been adamant that Netflix will not have anything but modest theatrical windows for its movies.
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The film industry, meanwhile, has been desperate to have more theatrical hits in theaters to keep the industry afloat. So “The Magician’s Nephew” heading to theaters is a major coup in movie theaters’ favor. If the film does well, Netflix will likely give others the “Gerwig Deal”, and more of their films will get the full theatrical release. But this also has major implications for the faith-based film industry. “The Magician’s Nephew” moving to Feb. 12 means it kicks off one of the biggest years in faith-based film.
A month later, on March 12, legendary horror director Mike Flanagan’s re-imagining of the iconic “The Exorcist” franchise debuts. This new take on the franchise stars Scarlett Johansson and breakout “Hamnet” star Jacobi Jupe. That same day, the sixth season finale of the acclaimed series about the life of Jesus, “The Chosen,” premieres in theaters. It’s supposed to be about the crucifixion of Jesus. Then, on May 6, “The Resurrection of the Christ Part One” comes out in theaters.
This means that February through May of next year will effectively be a mini faith-based movie season. But this is not just a wave of films made with religion and religious themes at the forefront. It’s also a snapshot of the modern-day culture war and a battle for what kinds of movies about faith get made in the future.
Movies like “The Magician’s Nephew” and “The Exorcist” are Hollywood films that are made within the Hollywood system about Christianity, increasingly made by people who either aren’t Christians or don’t publicly identify with that faith.
Traditionally, Hollywood had a mix of Christians and non-Christians making blockbusters like “Ben Hur.” Newer movies are increasingly made by non-Christians and often want a revisionist look at traditional Christianity. Such movies include “Noah,” “Exodus: Gods and Kings,” “First Reformed” and “Wake Up, Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery.”
By contrast, “The Chosen” and “The Resurrection of the Christ” are made by Christians who aren’t afraid to be public about their faith and working “faith-based” or “faith-based adjacent” space and largely geared for “faith-based” audiences. These include the original “The Passion of the Christ” and “The Chosen” franchises, as well as movies like “House of David” and going after the same audiences as “I Can Only Imagine.”
The divide between “Christian Hollywood Films” and “Christian Industry Films” (as I called it back in 2019) has never been starker. As I’ve written before in my prediction of the coming “faith-based gender war,” they are reflecting the shifting and growing cultural divides between religious and secular America.
Hollywood Christian movies are becoming more positive toward faith, but only when it’s female-led (particularly single female-led) and female-coded individualized spirituality, drenched in progressive politics, deconstructive and re-imaginative of male-dominated spaces, and particularly organized religion.
We see this in movies like “Sinners,” the “Avatar” franchise, “Presence,” “KPop Demon Hunters,” “Wake Up Dead Man,” “Is God Is” and — wouldn’t you know it — “Barbie.” This reflects the demographic changes in secular culture to align more tightly with progressive single women.
The new “Magician's Nephew” and “Exorcist” films fit perfectly within that framework. As I wrote long ago when “Barbie” came out, Gerwig’s stories are all about deconstructing the patriarchy in general and men in particular. When she does deal with faith, she re-imagines and recasts it away from traditional religious frameworks into more female-dominated self-expression focused imaginative spirituality. She “reimagines” her source material (whether “Little Women” or “Barbie” and, one can only expect Narnia) to fit these ideas. Comments by IMAX CEO that “this is not your grandmother’s Narnia” are also suggestive.
Flanagan, likewise, has also tended to center women as the locus of spiritual and moral wisdom in his stories, while casting male-oriented religion as oppressive and vague spirituality as positive. His “Midnight Mass” TV show was essentially a thesis on the subject. His promise for a “radical new take” on the franchise, which would abandon the “monologuing” of the original exorcism prayers (and preaching of the movies), also fits.
Meanwhile, Christian Industry faith-based films are increasingly aligning with conservative evangelicalism. Christian films used to be apolitical feel-good family dramas made for the Hallmark Christian mom audience, which at the time, was the average churchgoer.
As sociologist Ryan Burge notes in “The Vanishing Church,” the makeup of the average church is changing. Political progressives have stopped going to church and stopped having families, while women are leaving church at higher rates than men. This means that non-conservative evangelical churches are dying, and evangelical churches are becoming more male-dominant and more conservative.
This means the movies and TV shows are changing, too. They’re switching from PG family dramas to conservative-coded adventure stories, from “Sound of Freedom” to “The Pendragon Cycle.” “The Chosen” and “The Resurrection of the Christ” largely fit within this vein. Both are movies about Jesus that embrace traditional Christian theology rather than try to deconstruct it. They’re very male-centered while elevating women in ways and in roles that are comfortable to conservative Christians. Typically, love interests and mother figures. They focus on the battle between good and evil in the story.
This sets up a major movie clash that’s actually a culture war battle between two different “faith-based” audiences. Does the audience for feminine spirituality or masculine religion have more enthusiasm and momentum? Does their imaginative framework have more appeal to the average moviegoer? Whichever one does better will be a strong indicator of the direction of the American culture war.
But it is also going to say something about the future of the more conservative evangelical faith film world and the culture beyond. While “The Chosen” and “The Resurrection of the Christ” are very similar, they’re also starkly different. And whichever one audiences embrace is likely going to have a huge impact on what parts of the movement are stronger — and what kinds of stories and culture American Christians are going to embrace.
“The Chosen” sits more safely within the tradition of faith-based films and audience expectations of the past decades post-“Passion of the Christ.” It’s family-friendly, feel-good and inspirational — and its creative liberties are minimal. It speaks very much to the average Christian mom–or at least is built to not offend them.
“The Resurrection of the Christ” is much more risky and geared much more toward the growing population of men who say religion is “important to them,” but don’t necessarily go to church. If “The Chosen” beats “The Resurrection,” this may mean that the more traditional Christian family culture still has majority sway and enthusiasm around faith in America. Should “The Resurrection” do better at the box office, it will showcase that the culture of American faith has shifted. This will accelerate a change in the faith-based film industry as well as churches to appeal to that demographic.
The way Hollywood portrays faith is changing because American culture is changing. The growing divide in these portrayals reflects the same growing divide in America. Next year may be when this clash gets its biggest arena — and we will all be watching, popcorn in hand.
Joseph Holmes is an award-nominated filmmaker and culture critic living in New York. He is co-host of the podcast “The Overthinkers” and its companion website theoverthinkersjournal.world, where he discusses art, culture and faith with his fellow overthinkers. His other work and contact info can be found at josephholmesstudios.com.