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I’ve seen this advertised hard on Facebook. The algorithm probably recognizes my interest in LDS subjects. From what I understand it is a bit of an action movie and a love story describing the final chapters of Moroni’s life. Some people have complained about it being a little too Hollywood. That makes me more likely to want to see it TBH.
What are your impressions?
I have yet to see it, and likely won’t until it goes to the discount theaters. Admittedly, I have little desire to support the movie, mostly because of the creator, Darin Scott. Back in what I believe was 2017 or 18, my Facebook feed was constantly plastered with updates for the Kickstarter campaign Darin was doing. I was interested at first, but quickly got tired of seeing him constantly putting out videos asking people for more money. His pitch was always the same, “The big studios won’t support us because they don’t want this movie made. We need you to make this happen…” I eventually quit following it and assumed his project never made it off the ground. I assumed wrong, since this movie is out now.
Darin also brushed off his public campaigning hat recently, putting out a video complaining that the Church wouldn’t publicly support his film.
And I’ve not heard too many good things about the movie. When I do eventually see it, I’m not going into it with high expectations.
PazamaManX wrote:
Darin also brushed off his public campaigning hat recently, putting out a video complaining that the Church wouldn’t publicly support his film.
I hope he didn’t expect the church to actively support/endorse his project in any way. That just doesn’t seem to be what the church does. Has the church supported other LDS adjacent films? God’s Army? Best Two Years? Errand of Angels? I’m sure that copies of these films are sold in Deseret Book stores. Is there something else that the church might do to support filmmakers?
P.S. I recall that a major part of the drama between Tim Ballard and the Church was that he had been claiming that an apostle of the church supported his cause. The church leadership took that claim very seriously and took the unusual step of issuing a denial.
Roy wrote:I hope he didn’t expect the church to actively support/endorse his project in any way.
It sounds like he very much did. In his video, he went on about how the church had issued a statement in support of an LGBTQ event in Salt Lake, put ads in the Book of Mormon musical’s playbill, and supported The Chosen as reasons for why they should support his movie. If they’re willing to support entertainment ventures like that, then why not his? That was his reasoning anyway.
The church did ask if he’d do a private screening for them with the movie. This is from the transcript of his open letter video…
Quote:After screening the Oath and an hour-long post-screening discussion, my church’s head of PR expressed his opinion that the Oath would be positive for our church. My team and I were hopeful that my church would in turn acknowledge this publicly.
It sounds to me like the head of PR was being polite, but after seeing the movie the church decided it was something they didn’t want to get behind.
If I had any say in a decision like that, it would be the easiest decision of my life – no matter the movie: Quote:”We don’t endorse private movies made by anyone, regardless of their religious affiliation.”
As to “the Chosen”, the Church’s “support” was only to allow a scene to be shot at its recreation of Jerusalem where it shoots scenes for official productions. It never endorsed it officially or was involved in any other way. Also, the director/producer/ etc. is an evangelical Christian. As for other movies by individuals (like those mentioned in a previous comment), the Church has not endorsed or participated in their production in any way.
Sounds like Darin thinks his project should be supported officially simply because he is a member making a religious movie. Nope.
PazamaManX wrote:
put ads in the Book of Mormon musical’s playbill
😆 😆 😆 I am positive that the church does not support the Book of Mormon musical in any way. The ads in the playbill were a smart marketing move and demonstrated that the church can have a sense of humor about itself.As OT said, I just don’t think that the church leadership endorses movies that they didn’t make themselves (“Meet the Mormons”).
The church may not endorse the “Book of Mormon” musical but they did take advantage in our area when it came out. After ever performance, there were missionaries standing outside hoping to talk to the audience when they came out.
I don’t know if they did it in all missions, but they did here.
Yep. That was a smart move – and the Church actually got praise / compliments for the way they responded from media sources that usually don’t give it to churches. They appreciated the Church not attacking the show or those involved in it. It looks like the movie made half a million dollars at the box office compared to a 24 million dollar production budget. That is no bueno. I’ll give Darin some grace to vent a little given how much of his life he has invested in this project and that things don’t appear to have been going according to plan.
I expect that there will be some additional revenue from DVD sales but not enough to break even.
Roy wrote:
It looks like the movie made half a million dollars at the box office compared to a 24 million dollar production budget. That is no bueno.
Ouch. Those numbers are even worse when you consider marketing is not factored into the production budget, and theaters took a cut of what little it did make (typically 40% from what I understand).
Looking back at the box office record for the movie, it looks like most of the theaters dropped it after the first week, dropping from 640 theaters showing it to 167, and almost none playing it after the second week.
Here’s the numbers if anyone’s curious:
https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl1816494081/https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl1816494081/” class=”bbcode_url”> I had no desire to see the movie, and little patience for Darin, but I wouldn’t have wished such a big failure on him. I’m guessing it will be a very long time before we see anyone attempting another BoM movie after a hard flop like this.
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