When It Rains (on Noah), It Pours

A couple of days ago I was reading an article about the new film "Noah." More specifically, the article was about Russell Crowe's response to the controversy over "Noah," that of the film not being much like the Biblical story. The gist of his comments seems to be that people are ignorant, and should not prejudge the film, but decide for themselves after they see it.

I am not unsympathetic to Mr. Crowe's view. I often disagree with critics as to what constitutes a "good" movie. Tastes are subjective. I also believe that Mr. Crowe is a fine actor. The same can be said for the other members of the cast of "Noah" that I am familiar with, with the exception of Anthony Hopkins, who I believe is an extraordinary actor.

At the same time, I have to acknowledge certain realities. The movie "Noah" is not the Bible story Noah or anything close to it. The days where a major director would tackle that kind of project are long gone. And the criticism that the actors and director get for making an "artistic" version of a Biblical epic is nothing compared to making a faithful one. Ask the people involved in "The Passion of the Christ" about their publicity if you want to know about real horror stories.

So the director made "Not 'Noah'", the studio backed it, but then started to get worried about it when people noticed. There was a lot of money involved, after all. So they started issuing disclaimers that weren't quite disclaimers about "artistic license" or some such thing, and putting extra time and effort into selling "Not 'Noah.'" And based on the receipts for the first weekend, it seems to have worked. The movie is on track to make $40 million. Of course, it cost $130 million to make, so there is still a ways to go. There's still a lot to worry about there.

Meanwhile, a tiny little film that cost $1.5 million to make, another $6 million to distribute, branched out this past weekend. "God's Not Dead" expanded to another 360 screens, and has made over $20 million. And I don't think the people involved in that are worried too much about anything with regard to that movie. I think that movie is already doing exactly what it is supposed to be doing. The money is just a nice bit of fluff on the side.