Changing Hollywood: Family-Friendly Movies and Christian Movies Are Big Box Office Hits—How Your Movie Choices Shape What Hollywood Puts Out

In today’s world, it’s hard for families to find good wholesome entertainment that the whole family can enjoy.

Today’s podcast discusses the growing trend for more family entertainment and the popularity of Christian-themed movies.

I sat down and interviewed my good friend Ted Baehr, the Founder and publisher of MovieGuide, to discuss how he is helping to bring a spiritual change to entertainment.

I started the interview by thanking Ted for his movie guide, which was a big help to me when my kids were young… It helped me steer them clear of inappropriate movies and helped me pick good, family-friendly films and movies with good Christian values that we could all watch as a family.

Naturally, I had to ask him how he started his mission to change Hollywood… which is no small task.

“My parents were movie stars, so I grew up without Christian values or religion,’ Ted said. “I was on drugs and screwed up… Then in the mid-1970s, I met this woman from the Billy Graham ministry, who introduced me to Jesus and the bible. Soon after, I decided I needed to try to clean up Hollywood. That’s when I developed the MovieGuide.”

Ted explained how he grew his organization to work with Hollywood studios and producers to create more family-friendly entertainment… and the box office has shown that this formula is a success.

“I wanted to change Hollywood,” Ted said, “And with the MovieGuide, it worked… like your VoterGuide… When audiences vote, and they do this at the box office with the movies they chose to see, it impacts what Hollywood and even the streaming companies put out. If you support more family-friendly films, that’s what Hollywood will make… If you support films with violence, nudity, and foul language, that’s what they will put out. So, we’re helping change the nature of Hollywood.”

I believe anyone listening to this insightful podcast will benefit from Ted… He does some excellent work that everyone should know about.

Here are just a few of the topics we discuss during the podcast:

• Christians are a big box-office voting block—Over 65% of Christians go to the movies
• Family-friendly films make more money than “R” rated films
• More and More Christian films are being made and outperforming expectations—There’s a reason for it
• Even Disney is feeling the pushback for more family-friendly films—Disney’s CEO told Pixar to remove any LGBTQ messaging from their films…

The podcast touches on these topics and so much more.

The interview is about 25 minutes long.

Ted Baehr is the Founder and Publisher of MOVIEGUIDE® (www.movieguide.org), a family guide to entertainment. His purpose is to be used by God to redeem mass media and encourage families to use wisdom to select their entertainment. He is the author of How to Succeed in Hollywood (Without Losing Your Soul) and The Media-Wise Family, among many others.

For more information, please visit movieguide.org.

You’ll want to share it with your family and friends and post it on social media.

Let me know what you think. Email me at craig@craighuey.com.