Ben Hur, The Passion of the Christ, Narnia — Hollywood Wants More

|TOP|Following the success of box-office smashes such as The Passion of the Christ and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, studios are not only keen to produce more religious-themed stories, but they're also marketing movies more aggressively than ever to churchgoers.

"Hollywood is finally waking up to the fact that people who go to church also go to the movies," says Tyler Perry, the director who turned his church plays into the surprise hits "Diary of a Mad Black Woman" and "Madea's Family Reunion." "I'm not sure what took them so long to see that — or how long they'll keep it up.

"But at least we're getting the chance to prove that there's an audience for movies with the right message."

Hollywood has found religion before. Through the 1950s, studios churned out hits 1953's "The Robe," 1956's "The Ten Commandments," 1959's "Ben-Hur"). But by the mid-'60s, religious epics gave way to musicals, leaving religious fare largely to niche producers.

|AD|Now, producers find themselves back in churches with a two-aim strategy: to use faith-based hits to help stanch a three-year box-office slide and to convert those with little faith in Hollywood fare into permanent moviegoers.

No fewer than a dozen films with religious themes are on tap through 2007. The most high-profile in the works include "The Da Vinci Code," which premieres today, "Nativity" (Dec. 1), where Keisha Castle-Hughes ("Whale Rider") plays the Virgin Mary in this story of her trek with Joseph to Bethlehem for the birth of Jesus, and "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" (Dec. 14, 2007), the Christian parable and sequel to last year's hit.

Meanwhile, distributors find themselves communicating with church pastors, hoping to spread the message of their film amongst the church congregation.

"With so much competition, you can't just put your movie out there with a few ads," says Chuck Viane, head of distribution for Disney. "You have to build word-of-mouth. And it can build quickly" in the religious community.

When the church is united behind a film, "it has a pretty profound effect," Cannon, producer of “Loosed” says. "That's why people are paying a lot more attention to the mega-pastors. When you've got thousands of people who listen to you every week, when you can rent out entire theaters, you've got a powerful voice."

Indeed, studios are finding that ministers who preach to flocks of 5,000 or more a week can be as powerful a marketing tool as a slick advertising campaign.