Lorenza Muñoz of the Los Angeles Times provides a serviceable and evenhanded report on FoxFaith and its effort to exploit the market proven by The Passion of the Christ and by Tyler Perry's several films.
There's one refreshing difference in FoxFaith's collaboration with producer Jeff Clanagan: Making more films for African American and Latino audiences.
Less refreshing is the repeated use of the word product in these paragraphs:
"Tyler was a pioneer in showing that gospel entertainment was more commercial than anyone had ever thought," Clanagan said. "Faith-based product will be our bread and butter."
... "I would say that Jeff is more of a supplier of gospel product than a creator, as Tyler Perry is," said David Bixler, senior vice president of acquisitions for 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. "He is able to bring us product that fits very well into our current strategy of acquiring high-profile, high-concept gospel films."
There has been no shortage of would-be Passion of the Christ imitators since Mel Gibson knocked the industry on its backside, but hearing studio executives drone on about "faith-based product" suggests that they're not interested in transformative stories so much as the film equivalent of Cheez Whiz.