Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Bella is gaining support, here's how you can help

"Bella is the story of a star Mexican soccer player who seemingly has all the fame and fortune the status as a sports start afford. That is until he accidentally kills a little girl in an automobile accident and learns the value of human life.
Without an over-the-top approach that features content directed at the pro-life community, it takes a more subtle tack that could cause millions of Americans to rethink their own views supporting abortion.
The movie is racking up strong reviews from several media outlets -- with the New York Times calling it an "emotional tale of self discovery," Fox News labeling it "incredibly charming," and the New York Post saying the film is "a stunning exhibition of cinema art."
But help in promoting the movie is much needed as the movie is set to open in theaters in August.
The opening is limited to 25 top markets. While residents of places like Los Angles and Chicago will be able to see the movie in local theaters, the producers are working with pro-life advocates to generate enough funds to rent theaters or other locations for showings in other communities on the same date.
Those audiences can be counted along with the box office totals to generate a larger total audience for the premier that could increase the number of theaters showing the film."
Life News, HT Catholic Fire
This strategy was used most notably with "The Passion of the Christ". We were all urged to by advance tickets on Fandango to boost those crucial opening weekend sales, which make or break a film. We made it, and confounded all the critics by making an R-rated movie in a dead language one of the top grossing films of all time. We can do it again!
In my meeting with Dr. John Seel Jr. of Walden Media, he told me something about marketing films which completely floored me. Walden Media conducted exit interviews after Amazing Grace, a wonderful movie about William Wilberforce, the MP who worked for 20 years out of Christian conviction to abolish the British slave trade. See my review here.
Here are the reasons which moviegoers stated brought them to see Amazing Grace:
5% print and TV ads, which eat up 50% of a movie's profit
15% Amazing Grace Sunday, where 1500 churches participated in a singing of the hymn to commemorate the abolishing of the British slave trade, 200 years ago, and to unite to abolish modern-day human trafficking. It was more successful than the traditional marketing blitz.
The final statistic is the most shocking, however,
55% said they went to see the movie because they were encouraged by bloggers!
See the power we have to promote good cinema!
Link to "Bella" on your blog, and encourage your pastor to buy out a theatre in August. Buy advance tickets to insure the success of a film that can truly turn the tide of this culture.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds good..

God bless

Jean Heimann said...

Leticia,

This sounds like a great idea! It makes me happy that we as bloggers can promote these excellent movies.

I have been writing movie reviews for several years now on my blog as part of my ministry. I am hoping that Bella comes to Wichita or at least to a city nearby so I can review it.

Leticia said...

Thank you for your movie review ministry, I'm beginning to understand just how powerful it is.

From what I understand, the movie's distributor is ONLY distributing "Bella" in the Midwest, and most likely starting in cities like Witchita. I recommend that you and your readers unite their parishes and right to life groups, and 'buy out' entire theatres for opening night to give "Bella" that crucial first weekend success.

If "Bella" is successful that first weekend, we here on the East Coast might see it come to us.

Anonymous said...

I don't know much about "Bella", but I'll do my research and see what I can do to get people to go and see it.
"Amazing Grace" deserves a lot more attention than it got. I'll see what I can do about that as well....