Hollywood is going conservative

Jonathan Bing in Variety takes stock of conservatism in Hollywood last Tuesday.

The article in part reads:

"The conservative movement's status in Hollywood was the topic of Tuesday's inaugural lunch of the Hollywood Forum, a speaking series designed to foster political discussion in Hollywood.

The event, organized by screenwriter, former Federal Emergency Management Agency worker and conservative activist Steve Finefrock, wasn't particularly bipartisan.

On the right side of the panel were filmmaker Lionel Chetwynd and screenwriter Burt Prelutsky, who lamented the pervasiveness of left-wing politics in Hollywood.

Chetwynd, who offered a few critical words about the Republican majority on Capital Hill, complained, "Too many elements of the Republican Party and the conservative movement preferred to have Hollywood as a punching bag than as an ally."

"There's almost a war against Christianity in this country, and it has to stop," Chetwynd said to spontaneous applause.

"If I were sitting here in the '80s," Chetwynd said, "I would give you a list of people who would not hire me because I'm a conservative. A big change (today) is that conservatives in Hollywood have reached critical mass."

Chetwynd added, without offering any evidence, that among "young people coming to Hollywood, three to one are conservative."

Box office declines even with Batman

Batman did incredible box office. I really like it, well done, but the film's performance failed to stop a long-term decline in box office takings in the US and Canada, --worst slump for 20 years!

The top 12 2005 films have registered a 1.6% downturn when compared to the same weekend in 2004.

An example of the sliding box office is Hilary Duff's just released film The Perfect Man which made less than half of her 2004 film A Cinderella Story.

Warner Bros releases a Bible Study w/Ben Hur

Variety reports an amazing event:

"Eager to capitalize on the enduring religious appeal of the 1959 epic, the studio has created a separate edition of its upcoming collector's edition DVD -- complete with a Bible study guide.

"The edition contains all the extras of the regular four-disc set, but will be marketed directly to the religious market.

"The studio spent more than a year and a half cleaning up the original 65mm 'Ben-Hur' negative and assembling extras, including the original 1925 silent version of the epic for the collector's edition. Both versions debut Sept. 13 ..."

All I can say is "Cool, and wow! The power of the Passion!"