In this weekend’s box office, there was not one, but two separate Christian films that were in the top five—
God’s Not Dead
, at number 5, and, in the number one spot, the big-budget-blockbuster
Noah
.
Noah
was able to make $44 million this weekend, becoming one of the highest grossing opening weekends of the year thus far.
It’s not hard to see how the movie was able to make so much dough, but, considering the controversy the film has gained before, and even during, its release, it’s surprising that audiences even showed up at all.
“I really don't know much about the film, but I think it's interesting that it is being made,” said Kyle Walker, a 2013 alumni. “The story of Noah is a controversial topic, among critic's and those who praise it, and it will definitely conceive conversation. I do plan to see it.”
Among the religious and church organizations in Athens and around Ohio University, the film is being met with equal measures of eagerness and dread. While not as many people here got the chance to check the film out this weekend, many are planning to see the film in the near future.
“These stories are from the Bible while I don’t expect they follow the Bible strictly, I’d like to check out the scene of the flood under modern technology,” said Yingchao “Alex” Li, a fourth year Ph.D. chemical engineering student and leader of the Chinese Bible Study group. “It might give a visual impression of how magnificent the flood was. I’m worried that the film might mess up this theme of the Bible, just using the name and the plot, then making up other stuff.”
Additionally, religious or not, many people feel that this is a story that deserves to be told.
“I'm excited about the movie because no matter your background or beliefs it's a story, and a good story, if portrayed fully and correctly,” Walker said. “That being said I am nervous, not that the film may not portray everything and will add the ‘for movie moments,’ but that audiences will take the film as concrete hard truth. Noah should simply be a visual aid.”
But, many feel that the inaccuracies of the film in relation to the original text make the film unworthy of being seen or even screened.
“I try to be supportive of any effort to present God's truth,” said Pastor Carl Prokop, of the Albany Baptist Church. “However accuracy is extremely important. The addition of material where God's Word is silent must be done so in a way that the artist's presentation remains consistent with the truth, which is clearly revealed in God's Word.”
Prokop is firmly against seeing the film, and, while he is not fully deviled into the controversy of the film, claiming to spend little time “following Hollywood” he feels that this film, particularly of its director Darren Aronofsky, represents a “project is not intended to be bible based that perhaps the movies creator does not recognize this story as true or real in history.”
“Whether one is speaking, reading aloud or proclaiming, God's Word or presenting it in a visual format, I believe God has a standard and will hold each presenter accountable to present Him and His Word in truth,” Prokop said.
Regardless of its success this weekend, it still has a little ways to go before it makes back its $125 million price tag. This weekend will determine whether the controversy of the film will continue helping or hurting the film.
wa054010@ohiou.edu
