SCH TOP MOVIE PICKS

With school ending and the slow of summer upon us, SCH Editor At Large, Diane Howard weighs in on her top movie picks this week. Socially responsible consumers continue to encourage more and more production, screening, and distribution of artistic movies and events with worthwhile content for the good of our world. On May 14, Box Office Mojo reports that “Jungle Book“; and  “Zootopia”; continue strong in theaters. Fandango.com reports that other family, redemptive movies currently continuing in theaters include: “Miracles From Heaven“, “Risen”, “Young Messiah“, and “Ratchet and Clank.”

There are many more promising family and redemptive movies for various ages due out in months ahead:  “Not Ashamed”, “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2”, “Star Trek Beyond”, “Ben-Hur”, and more. Many other promising family and redemptive movies are in development for cinemas:  “Left Behind 2”, “Full of Grace”, “Do You Believe 2”, “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair”, “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew”, “Ten Commandments” “King David”, “Apostle Paul” (with Hugh Jackman), “Pontius Pilate”, “Butterfly Circus”, “The Adventures of Tintin 2”, “Touchdown on the Tundra”, “Wanted”, a slate of HD Texas movies and more.

Disney, which has demonstrated the top box office draw of family movies (especially when they are based on classics that have already stood the test of time and are morally clear) has some promising redemptive, family, live-action remakes in process such as “Beauty and the Beast”, “Dumbo”, “Mary Poppins.”

Movieguide.org provides invaluable reviews, as well as news, videos and more for good family redemptive movies. The NRB, referring to Movieguide®, has recently reported 20-Year Study Shows‘Explosive Growth’ in Movies Promoting Strong Family, Biblical Values.  Dr. Ted Baehr, Founder and Publisher of Movieguide®, says a 20-year study of hundreds of movies shows that relatively family-friendly movies with strong moral, biblical content and/or values have seen an “explosive growth” over the years. Ever since Movieguide® began honoring such movies at its Annual Faith & Values Awards, the number of relatively family-friendly movies with strong moral, biblical content, and/or values has increased from only 14 such movies in 1996 to 106 such movies in 2015.

Also, the box office totals in the United States and Canada for these movies have increased from $119.39 million in 1996 to $5.78 billioin 2012 and to almost $6.88 billion in 2015. “And, those earnings don’t include all the money these movies made overseas or on home video,” says Dr. Baehr. For example, Baehr points out that Disney’s “Frozen” made $875.7 million overseas and $334.85 million on home video, which Baehr said shows the power of making “extremely entertaining family movies” with strong moral, biblical values. For more than three decades, Baehr’s ministry has been committed to “redeeming the values of the entertainment industry by influencing industry executives and by informing and equipping the public about the influence of the entertainment media.

The ongoing Renaissance of artistry and Reformation of content is prevailing in the public square as socially responsible consumers and patrons support the best writers to produce increasingly better redemptive content for the best directors and actors to perform with the best modern cinematography. The current interactions of improving artistry and content in the public marketplace are providing the kinds of top pick movies available the second week of May that include:  “Jungle Book”, “Zootopia”, “Miracles From Heaven”, “God’s Not Dead 2”, “Risen”, “Young Messiah”, and “Ratchet and Clank.”

Written by Diane Howard, Ph.D. (Performance Studies), dianehoward.com