Christians have a positive view of Hollywood, but they prize biblical accuracy

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A new poll has found that more Christians view Hollywood favourably than don't, but accuracy is a factor for most when it comes to deciding whether they will go to see a film or not.

The poll was conducted by American Insights for the Christian News Service and producer of new faith-based film Nicaea, Charles Parlato, and reported by Variety magazine.

It found just under half of Christians had a favourable view of Hollywood, compared to just under a third (32 per cent) who didn't.

Catholics were far more likely than Protestants to view Hollywood positively (57 per cent against 40 per cent).

But Christians in general felt that Hollywood does not accurately portray their faith. Only a third felt their faith was portrayed fairly in Hollywood flicks.

A similarly low figure (37 per cent) believed Hollywood portrayed the Bible accurately.  This despite over three-quarters of Christians (79 per cent) said accuracy was a factor in their cinema-going decisions.

Christian News Service president Russ Jones told Variety the results were a "stern warning" to filmmakers "to use historical data, historical facts and biblical themes as accurately as possible".

Just under half (49 per cent) of those surveyed who described their religion as being extremely important to them said they would go to the cinema more often if there were more films addressing questions around God.

The survey of 1,200 adults last month also found that for Christians their most popular movie genre at the cinema was a comedy (28 per cent), followed by an action movie (25 per cent), and drama (14 per cent). Only four per cent cited faith-based films.

Nicaea is still in the early stages of development, with fundraising ongoing, and its makers are working towards a 2016 release date, Variety reports.