{"id":160,"date":"2011-01-28T03:32:38","date_gmt":"2011-01-28T03:32:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/catholicsmediaandculture\/2011\/01\/rite-stuff-at-the-box.html"},"modified":"2011-01-28T03:32:38","modified_gmt":"2011-01-28T03:32:38","slug":"rite-stuff-at-the-box","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/2011\/01\/rite-stuff-at-the-box.html","title":{"rendered":"Exorcism drama “The Rite” expected to top weekend b.o.; Charlie Sheen seeks help; Salvation Boulevard a Sundance winner"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Rite<\/i> Stuff at the box office?<\/b><\/a> New Line is hoping its PG-rated story of exorcists battling the devil will pull gross somewhere in the high teens (as in millions of dollars) this weekend. The movie, based on a book about a real-life exorcist<\/a>, is receiving praise<\/a> for treating treating faith with respect and priests as actual heroes.
IMHO:<\/b> I think its great for a movie to treat faith with respect and portray priests in a positive light but I’d rather see more positive Christian movies that don’t involve the devil. Here are three books Hollywood might want to look at: 

<\/b>CROSSBEARER: A MEMOIR OF FAITH<\/b><\/i> by Joe Eszterhas<\/a> (St. Martin’s Press)<\/p>\n

<\/em><\/b>This compelling auto-biography<\/a> tells the story of how Eszterhas, the author of erotic movies like Basic Instinct <\/em>and Showgirls <\/em>found
\nGod and the strength to give up his addictions to alcohol and tobacco
\n— and to survive a horrendous battle with throat cancer.  Considering how
\nmuch he was paid for those previous works, you would think Hollywood studios would be lining up to produce this one.<\/p>\n

UNLIKELY ANGEL: THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE ATLANTA HOSTAGE HERO<\/b><\/i> by Ashley Smith<\/a> (Zondervan\/Harper Collins)
This one’s the Apollo<\/i> <\/a>13<\/a> <\/i>of our day in that the actual facts of the story require virtually no writer embellishment.<\/a><\/em><\/em> You no doubt remember the story of the Atlanta woman who in 2005  was taken hostage by a fugitive
\nwho shot his way out of an Atlanta courtroom.  After several tense
\nhours she talked him into allowing her to go free resulting in the
\nnonviolent end of a real-life drama that captivated the nation. Of
\ncourse, her own road to devout Christianity and the book The Purpose
\nDriven Life<\/i> by Rick Warren<\/a>, the famed evangelical pastor of
\nCalifornia’s Saddleback Church, were key to the story’s happy ending.
\nCould those facts have anything to do with Hollywood’s skittishness?<\/p>\n

IN THE PRESENCE OF MY ENEMIES<\/b><\/i> <\/em>by Gracia Burnham<\/a> (Tyndale House Publishers)<\/font>
Another
\ntrue story written by the person who lived it — and, again, the screenplay would virtually write itself<\/a>.  In 2001 Gracia Burnham was a Protestant missionary who, along with her missionary
\nhusband, spent a year in captivity by Islamist terrorists
\noperating in the southern Philippines.  Her husband was killed in the
\ndaring rescue that freed her.  An amazing — and dramatic — story.<\/p>\n

Charlie Sheen in rehab.<\/b><\/a> The Two and a Half Men<\/a> <\/i>star made his decision after being rushed to the hospital with abdominal pains that a  TMZ report<\/a> suggests may have been linked to a cocaine bender. Let’s hope and pray this guy gets the help he needs..    <\/p>\n

Salvation B<\/i>oulevard <\/i>sells @ Sundance.<\/b><\/a> IFC Films and Sony Pictures jointly pickup the religiously themed comedy Pierce Brosnan, Greg Kinnear, Jennifer Connelly, Marisa Tomei and Ed Harris. The plot, per Hollywood Reporter<\/a>, involves “a duplicitous preacher, a former deadhead, a true believer, a security
\nguard, an atheistic novelist and an antique handgun that collide in
\ncomedic ways.” <\/i>It’s based on a novel by Larry Beinhart.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Rite Stuff at the box office? New Line is hoping its PG-rated story of exorcists battling the devil will pull gross somewhere in the high teens (as in millions of dollars) this weekend. The movie, based on a book about a real-life exorcist, is receiving praise for treating treating faith with respect and priests…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":225,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,3,12,2,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-catholic-church","category-christianity","category-movies","category-television"],"yoast_head":"\nExorcism drama "The Rite" expected to top weekend b.o.; Charlie Sheen seeks help; Salvation Boulevard a Sundance winner - Catholics Media and Culture<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/2011\/01\/rite-stuff-at-the-box.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Exorcism drama "The Rite" expected to top weekend b.o.; Charlie Sheen seeks help; Salvation Boulevard a Sundance winner - Catholics Media and Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Rite Stuff at the box office? New Line is hoping its PG-rated story of exorcists battling the devil will pull gross somewhere in the high teens (as in millions of dollars) this weekend. The movie, based on a book about a real-life exorcist, is receiving praise for treating treating faith with respect and priests…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/2011\/01\/rite-stuff-at-the-box.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholics Media and Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-01-28T03:32:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"John W. 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The movie, based on a book about a real-life exorcist, is receiving praise for treating treating faith with respect and priests…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/2011\/01\/rite-stuff-at-the-box.html","og_site_name":"Catholics Media and Culture","article_published_time":"2011-01-28T03:32:38+00:00","author":"John W. 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Kennedy","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/d80\/d801bc09698c0995d9ae402b4b55ab61x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/d80\/d801bc09698c0995d9ae402b4b55ab61x96.jpg","caption":"John W. Kennedy"},"description":"John W. Kennedy is the founder and Dir. of Development of The Creative Universe Entertainment\u2122, a media consultation and development company focusing on the creation, development and support of high-quality mainstream entertainment that upholds positive timeless values, including trust in God. Current projects include \"Bryant Park\" (an uplifting romantic-comedy) and \"Photo Finish\" (an award-winning sci-fi TV pilot). He has written over 100 children's novels based on episodes of the Cartoon Network series \"Ben 10\", \"Ben 10: Alien Force\", \"Ben 10: Ultimate Alien\", \"Ben 10: Omniverse\" and \"Generator Rex\" among others. He also writes Beliefnet\u2019s \"Faith, Media & Culture\" blog. Previously, he has produced successful news and talk programming for CNN, Fox News, Pax TV and SiriusXM. Specialties: Script Writing, Movie\/TV Novelizations & Adaptations, TV Content Creation and Development, Creative Consultation, Producing and Booking News and Talk shows. He can be reached for writing, producing and consulting services at 516-640-1182.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/author\/jkennedy"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/225"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}