FAMILY FILMS RETURN AFTER JANUARY FREEZE

Family movies have been missing from the scene since December. Not one theatrical release during the entire month of January was awarded the Dove Family Approved seal.  Finally, beginning on February 11th we see a delightful resurgence of films for various members of the family; from animated children’s features to educational documentaries, and from exciting action adventures to inspiring dramas. If Hollywood fails to serve the family audience, we have no one to blame but ourselves. Hollywood is not about “Show Art” it’s about “Show Business.” To borrow from the famous quote from Field of Dreams, “If they build it, we will come, and likewise, if we come, they will build more. At the box office, it’s okay to vote early and vote often. So, enjoy these family films!  
http://www.dove.org/news.asp?ArticleID=225

Note to Filmmakers

Over the past several years we have been consulting with filmmakers at various stages of their craft. I feel it is important to address one particular issue that comes up frequently, especially from those who are just starting out, or those who have had a hard time getting their finished film to market. The common question is, “What must I do to make a financially successful movie?”

There are plenty of experts available to answer this crucial question. I don’t consider myself among them. But after 20 years of watching thousands of projects come through our offices, my observations might be of some value.
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Walmart and P&G bring FAMILY MOVIE NIGHT to television.

Walmart and Proctor and Gamble formed an alliance and created FAMILY MOVIE NIGHT, a unique space in the entertainment landscape designed especially for consumers who enjoy sharing a delightful movie experience in the comfort of their homes with every family member regardless of age.

Ben Simon, Walmart

Brian Wells, Flyover Ent.

I recently spoke to Ben Simon, head of global family entertainment marketing at Walmart and Brian Wells, creative development director for Flyover Studios in Cincinnati.  These two men share a vision for serving up to the American family regular doses of enjoyable, inspirational television entertainment.

Here's a link to the interview...

LETTER FROM A CONCERNED H.S. STUDENT

During the past 20 years at the helm of The Dove Foundation, I’ve received hundreds of letters and thousands of emails from people who either love what we do here, or who have a bone to pick with a particular movie review we’ve published.  Some people think we’re too liberal while others accuse us of being rightwing nuts. In all those years, however, I’ve never had a high school freshman write to me to express concern about topic that we deal with on a daily basis – violence in media; that is until Emily Schafer wrote the following refreshingly candid letter…

Dear Mr. Dick Rolfe

Hello, my name is Emily Schafer and I am a freshman at Forest Hills Northern High School in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I have recently become aware of the situation of media violence in the United States, and I think it’s become a problem we need to solve.

Media violence has become a very troubling issue. Violent and action-packed movies and television programs may be what the public adults want most, but our children deserve better. Especially for kids below the age of eight, it can be hard for them to distinguish the difference between fantasy and real life.  This confusion can sometimes lead to violent behavior, thinking that it’s okay. However, violence is not okay.

Our country has released some startling statistics in the past few years that really shocked me. For instance, did you know that by the time a child reaches age 18, they will have seen 200,000 acts of violence and 16,000 murders in TV programs and movies?  It is also astonishing to me that about 82% of the American public believes that Hollywood movies are too violent.

As a concerned citizen, I was wondering what your organization, the Dove Foundation does to protect children from media violence. What have you done in the past? Do you plan on taking more steps in the future against media violence?

Thank you so much for your time and reading this letter. I would really appreciate a response!

Sincerely,
Emily Schafer

I wrote back and thanked Emily for taking time to write me about a subject that is so vital to our society’s values.

I stated further that I was impressed by her passionate, intelligent arguments opposing violence in media, and that I read her letter to my staff and board of directors.

I went on to address her concern…

“You asked what The Dove Foundation does to protect children from media violence. One thing we do is encourage parents to teach their children about the importance of discernment when it comes to making their entertainment choices.  Obviously, your parents are doing just that, and doing it well!

I believe your words of wisdom can be an inspiration to others to think more carefully before choosing to watch violent movies or television programs.  Your point of view as a teenager can very persuasive to others of your peers.“

And this is where I extend Emily’s appeal to you parents and teenagers reading this story. Please consider seriously the research that shows a direct link between the violent media that kids are exposed to and the increased aggression they exhibit.  How many times have we read a news story where a youngster committed a crime of violence to mimic something he or she saw in a movie?

Members of the Motion Picture Association are the arbiter of the movie ratings system (G, PG, PG13, R). They admit openly to revising their ratings downward occasionally to reflect the changing (read that “degrading”) social norms of society. In other words, violence that was once considered too extreme to be portrayed is now considered as mild.

An example of this effect was explained to me by a Disney executive who compared the death of Bambi’s mother in the 1942 animated classic, to that of Simba’s father in The Lion King.  In Bambi, a mere gun shot off camera was enough to send most children into fits of tears knowing that Bambi’s mother had been killed by a hunter.  (I know, because I was one of those children.)  In The Lion King, however, animators found it necessary to show Simba nuzzling Mumphasa‘s dead body on screen in order to elicit any sympathy from youngsters in the audience.  Psychologists call that affect “coarsening.”

The Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association and the American Psychiatric Association all three consider violence in media so serious that they’ve declared it a public health problem.

I’m grateful to Emily and others like her who are becoming aware of the seriousness of the impact of violence in entertainment on our society, and particularly today’s youth.

Let’s begin by asking ourselves the question Emily posed in her letter; “What do we intend to do to protect children from media violence?”

Toy Story 3 crosses $1 billion mark!

Well what do you know? Family films ARE profitable! 

DISNEY•PIXAR’S TOY STORY 3 WILL CROSS $1 BILLION TODAY; DISNEY TO BECOME FIRST STUDIO WITH TWO
$1 BILLION FILMS IN ONE YEAR

BURBANK, Calif. – August 27, 2010 – Two weeks after becoming the highest-grossing animated film of all time, Disney•Pixar’s Toy Story 3 will cross the $1 billion mark at the global box office today,  joining Alice in Wonderland as the second $1 billion film this year from The Walt Disney Studios – the first studio in history to accomplish this feat.  Disney first crossed the $1 billion threshold with Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest in 2006.  Toy Story 3 becomes the only animated film to reach this milestone and the seventh title in industry history. 

“It’s been an incredible year as we saw the Pixar team bring Buzz and Woody back to the big screen and watched Tim Burton’s vision for Alice in Wonderland take the world by storm,” said Rich Ross, Chairman, The Walt Disney Studios.  “These box office triumphs prove that creative storytelling brought to life by imaginative, inspired and talented professionals is something audiences respond to the world over.” 

As of Thursday (8/26/10), Toy Story 3 tallied more than $592.9 million internationally, Disney’s largest international animated release. Latin American audiences have contributed $138 million making Toy Story 3 the highest grossing Disney film ever released in the region.  Toy Story 3 is the most successful UK release in Disney history and currently stands as the fourth biggest title in territory history with $102.4 million in box office receipts so far.  In Japan, the film has taken in $111.2 million and spent five consecutive weeks as the #1 movie.  Toy Story 3 currently ranks as the #7 film in global box office history and domestically ranks #9 with $404.6 million in receipts to date.

Alice in Wonderland began setting records during its opening weekend (March 5-7), becoming the biggest March opening in industry history, the highest 3D opening ever and The Walt Disney Studios’ biggest opening for a non-sequel film.  Internationally, the film went on to tally more than $690 million, becoming Disney’s biggest overseas release of all time and the fourth biggest title ever released overseas.  Worldwide, the film took in $1.0243 billion, ranking it as the #5 film in global box office history.  

Christian Task Force Develops New Rating System for Films

A task force made up of representatives from Christian retailers including ChristianCinema.com and The Dove Foundation, developed a new rating system for DVDs and theatrical films to equip customers with information about content.

“No one wants to be surprised with unexpected language or uncomfortable situations depicted on the screen when the family settles down to view entertainment,” said Ron Forster, owner of The Open Door in Terre Haute, IN, and a member of the task force. He said the ratings help give consumers information they need to confirm a purchasing decision and assist retailers by providing definitive information about the content.

The Dove Foundation's new rating system, which should be finalized this summer, adds categories for films  that are "Faith Based," "Faith Friendly," in addition to their already popular "Family Approved" Seal.

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Want to See a Family Movie? There's an App for That!

Dove Foundation launches a mobile app for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

The Dove Foundation announces the launch of mobile apps for the new generation of smart phones, including a FREE app for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Dove is a nonprofit advocacy organization that encourages Hollywood to produce more family-oriented movies and DVDs. The Foundation publishes reviews of all the latest movies and DVDs on its website at www.dove.org.

“Many families who rely on our online reviews asked us to make them available in a mobile format,” added Rolfe. “We are grateful to Six Voices, a technology company in Grand Rapids for setting up our iPhone/iPod Touch app.”

The Dove mobile app offers smart phone owners several key advantages. One advantage is that people can gain instant access to Dove’s comprehensive reviews even when away from their home computers.

While standing in the theater trying to decide which movie to see, people can type in www.dove.org on their iPod Touch, iPhone or any other smart phone and read Dove’s reviews instantly before purchasing their tickets. The same application applies to anyone browsing through the DVDs in a retail store.

Another nice feature of the mobile app is that it renders Dove’s reviews in a special, easy to read format designed for the small screens on mobile phones. “The technology we use recognizes whether the inquiry is coming from a computer or cell phone,” said Director of Operations, Scott Rolfe. “That way, people don’t have to memorize two web addresses to get their information on various platforms.”

With the help of technology partner, Six Voices, Dove is looking into other advanced technologies that that will help deliver to families everything they need to remain informed in this exciting, and challenging age of new media.

The Dove Foundation is a national nonprofit organization founded in 1991 whose mission is to encourage and promote the creation, production, distribution and consumption of family-friendly entertainment. Nearly 200,000 unique visitors each month rely on Dove’s in-depth movie and DVD reviews at www.dove.org to determine what is appropriate for their families.

Six Voices is a mobile technology company that transforms ideas into reality. “You dream it, Six Voices will deliver."

Tiger Woods advised to turn to Christianity

On “Fox News Sunday” Brit Hume served up some personal advice to Tiger Woods. 

Hume says, “Tiger Woods will recover as a golfer, whether he can recover as a person, I think is a very open question as it’s a tragic situation with him. I think he has lost his family. It’s not clear to me whether he will be able to have a relationship with his children. But the Tiger Woods that emerges once the news value does out of this scandal, the extent to which he can recover seems to me depends on his faith.

“He is said to be a Buddhist. I don't think that faith offers the kind of forgiveness and redemption that is offered by the Christian faith. My message to Tiger would be, 'Tiger, turn to the Christian faith and you can make a total recovery and be a great example to the world."

Dove Foundation's new TV Show

Greetings reader,

After a lot of planning and praying, we at The Dove Foundation are excited to announce the launch of a terrific Entertainment Review TV show called DOVE SPOTLIGHT. You can find more details at http://www.dovespotlight.com

The show reviews movies, DVDs and video games...all based on our familiar ratings criteria. DOVE SPOTLIGHT will air on several national faith and family networks beginning Friday, Oct 9th, as well as our local ABC affiliate, WOTV and WXSP here in West Michigan. Our total reach is over 45 million households. Did I say, we're excited?

Clips of the show will also be streamed on several websites, including ours.

This is the pilot episode. We plan to have weekly episodes up soon.

I'd love to hear from you after you watch the show or view the online clips. We want to make this informative and entertaining and your input will help.

Dick Rolfe, CEO
The Dove Fountation

Family Films are Killing R-rated Movies

Family Films are Killing R-rated Movies

The summer blockbusters are over and the box office results are in — family friendly films are killing R-rated movies in the pocketbook. Only one Rated-R film, The Hangover, made the top 10 box office list. The next highest grossing Rated-R film, The Watchmen, came in at a distant #18 on the list. The money gap comes at a time when Hollywood is undergoing historic changes which may alter the movies we see in the future. The top 10 movie profits of 2009 so far;

New Dove TV show - reviews movies, DVDs, Games

Producing a pilot for a new upbeat entertainment/movie review show for TV and the Web. Just finished casting the hosts. Great choices. Rachael Ruiz, loca NBC Affiliate anchor and Brian Burch, PR guy. Gammer host, Derek Emerson, 20-something millenial. Ready for primetime Oct 1st. News story> More as it develops.

30 Ways in 30 Days to Save Your Family

A survival guide for every parent of a child from birth to graduation!

Rebecca Hagelin is a noted expert, public speaker and commentator on family issues and parenting. She has championed the pro-family message in Washington DC and around the nation for the past 25 years. She is a senior fellow for The Heritage Foundation and appears frequently on FOX, CNN, and CBN as a culture and media analyst.

Rebecca penned her insightful, how-to book, 30 Ways in 30 Days to Save Your Family for parents who are struggling to raise their kids in this high-tech, media-dominated world where young people are bombarded with powerful messages that do not reflect their families’ values. (more)

Cussing, Cursing, Swearing and other Vulgarities

In his book, Vulgarians at the Gate, entertainment legend, the late Steve Allen compares vulgar language to smoking. “The hideous stench of smoking befouls the air of every social gathering from eating establishments to airlines,” he declared. Then, Mr. Allen goes on to propose that we borrow the strategy that successfully diminished the popularity of smoking, and use it to attack the onslaught of other vulgarities. In other words, in the same manner that smoking has been deemed socially unacceptable, it might be possible to sway the cultural mainstream into declaring that foul language is objectionable. One small step toward a return to civility -- what a concept! (more)

Fox and Walden Team Up for Narnia

Variety announced it as official. As I predicted, Fox will partner with Walden to continue producing the next installment(s) of the wonderful Chronicles of Narnia series. I've been reading Voyage of the Dawn Treader and it should prove to be another hit. My only concern it the dramatically reduced budget, south of $150 million.

Due to recent safety threats they are not going to film this water wonderland movie at the Fox-owned Rosarito Mexico, home base of "Titanic" and "Master and Commander." Instead, they are going to Australia which will add to the overhead.

Fox will certainly have better results with Narnia than they did with Eragon. More as it develops...

Disney Dumps Dawn Treader

Well, it's official. Disney has dropped out of the Narnia franchise and won't participate in "Voyage of the Dawn Treader." See story at Reuters.com

This could be a bad time for Walden Media or a freeing time, it depends on who they collaborate with to complete this epic franchise.

Disney was always timid about the Christian imagery in the Narnia stories. During "The Lion Witch and Wardrobe," Disney emphasized the secular messages in the film while Walden and Douglas Gresham (Lewis' stepson) launched a religious grassroots marketing strategy. Both Disney and Walden ignored the religious market when promoting "Prince Caspian," assuming that the first episode would be enough impetus for the Christian "underground" to carry their water.

Unfortunately, a prevailing message that preceeded the opening of Caspian was that "it is much more violent that LW&WR...more like 'Lord of the Rings'." This was a needless turnoff, since the level of violence is pretty much the same in both episodes, it's just that there are more battle scenes in Caspian.

I heard that Walden made a calculated error by postponing the opening of "Prince Caspian" to give "Nim's Island" which opened April 4th a better chance against competition. That decision did nothing to help "Nim's Island." In fact, Caspian's debute of May 15th was quickly deflated by "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" which opened May 21st.

I believe that a Fox-Walden co-production will help greatly in making sure the message is pure Lewis, and in marketing the film properly to faith-based, faith-friendly and family-friendly audiences.

Of course, there is also a possibility that Sony may want to play a role, given Amy Pascal's recent comments about looking for more family-oriented opportunities.

In the final analysis...Aslan is still on the move!

Christian Entertainment Review

This issue introduces Family Entertainment Central and its partners; The Dove Foundation, Parents Television Council and Plain Games. Click on the cover and enjoy!

Simplify Your Life

Life is complicated enough, especially if you are a parent or grandparent. Beyond the normal workday, there’s shopping to be done, kids’ soccer practices or swimming matches to attend, morning Bible studies and mid-week church services, choir practices, family gatherings, and the list goes on.

Not much spare time for relaxation – even with all the electronic innovations that promise to ‘simplify’ our lives. So, once in a while, it’s nice to take a night off and go see the latest movie. If you’re a homebody, you may prefer watching a hotly promoted “family hour” sitcom on TV, or pop in a new DVD you rented or purchased. If there are children around, you may even be coaxed into playing some new-fangled video game.

But, what do you know about the content of that movie, DVD, TV sitcom or video game before you commit yourself and your family to watch it. I know; who has time to pre-screen every movie, television program or video game before subjecting your family to the experience? (more)

The Story Behind FIREPROOF

In 2002, two brothers who are pastors at Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, GA read a Barna Research story which stated that media have the greatest impact on the upcoming generation. Churches, which used to be the 3rd or 4th greatest influence with children and teens, have now dropped out of the Top 10. Alex and Stephen Kendrick decided to make movies to reach out to unchurched people and help get them interested in the things of God. Click here for the rest of the story.

MPAA RATINGS CREEP - DOVE'S DON'T

Here is an interview I did opposite the head of the Motion Picture Association's Classification and Ratings Board. Notice the differences in our "standards" and how they are applied to the movies we review.

Walden Media Gets "Savvy"

This just in from Cinematical.com:

July 21st 2008 2:40PM

Magical trends just never end! According to Variety, Walden Media has hired Karen Janszen to adapt Ingrid Law's book Savvy, which only just hit bookstores a few months ago. The rights have been optioned at least that long, but it looks like Walden is really racing it into production.Savvy follows a family called the Beaumonts, who all boast remarkable superpowers.

The hero of the story is young Mibs, who is quickly approaching her thirteenth birthday and the discovery of her own superpower or "savvy." Unfortunately for the Beaumonts, disaster strikes right on the fateful day, and Mibs finds herself in the midst of an adventure, where she will have to try to hide her new "savvy" when it makes itself known.

It sounds like The Incredibles, with a dash of Harry Potter and X-Men for color. Interestingly, the story behind Savvy's publication is reminiscent of J.K. Rowling's. Law hails from my home state of Colorado, and all kinds of press outlets are making much of the fact that she resides in a mobile home with her daughter. That's not a bad thing! My grandma lived in one, and I have very fond memories of it. Anyway, if the success of Savvy has allowed her to move on to a grander home, that's cool, and I wish my fellow Rockies resident continued fortune.

If you're interested in reading the book for free, Penguin has released it online. Unfortunately, this freebie ends today, so I hope you're a fast reader. And if you've read it already, please sound off on its movie potential below!