Studio Gets Religious Education With 'Nativity Story'
New Line's religious education is the latest effort by Hollywood to get in touch with the Christian market. The status of that moviegoing set climbed in the wake of Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ," about the crucifixion, and Walt Disney Co.'s "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," which had underlying Christian themes. Twentieth Century Fox has launched FoxFaith, a theatrical and home video distribution label for Christian films. Lately, low-budget, independently produced faith movies also have shown resilience at the box office, even though they are playing in a fraction of the theaters a typical studio release does.