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2) http://lonestartimes.com/2005/12/17/narnia-stomps-kong/ Lone Star Times - Houston,TX,USA Saturday, December 17, 2005 Narnia Stomps Kong by Dave Cantrell | 12/17/2005 12:26 pm True to my earlier prediction, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe is beating the pants off King Kong.
Narnia sales so far are about to surpass the $100 million mark, while Kong has barely recouped 10% of its $300 million cost. To be fair, a more accurate comparison would be between Narnia's first three days and Kong's first three, which shows Narnia at $65.5 million vs. Kong's $30 million.
Even Fox News gets it:
What's happened? Peter Jackson's "King Kong" - a three-hour, $300 million extravaganza that wowed advance screening audiences - is a catastrophe in the making.
2) http://www.theage.com.au/news/film/back-in-the-closet/2005/12/15/1134500959653.html A religious plot December 18, 2005, The Age Newspaper, Melbourne,Victoria, Australia The Chronicles of Narnia has done the unthinkable - it's put Christianity smack-bang in the middle of a pop-cultural debate(...)
Outside America, however, even ordinary churchgoers are suspicious of a supposed children's adventure film that also serves as a Bible study aid; there is something horribly manipulative in that idea(...)For those who did not like the books, of course, all this Christian bandwagonry is a vindication; Lewis and his books were never anything other than thinly veiled missionary tracts.
The Pevensey children's arrival in Narnia coincides with the return of Aslan, a great lion of deliverance. After battling the Witch, Aslan negotiates with her and agrees to die in exchange for the children's lives, submitting himself to be executed by her henchcreatures. A night passes; the golden body disappears. And then, through the mystery of sacrifice and redemption, it comes back to life. Aslan rises again.
You could call it a parable; you could call it a borrowed legend. It is, indeed, a legend of undeniable power(...)
Right now, however, the Christian allegory stands out in high relief. Any discussion of the Narnia stories, as journalist Zoe Williams has noted, is now compulsorily prefixed with some disclaimer that will reset the discussion to the neutral agnostic. "Besides the dodgy Christian subtext ..." the article will begin. We don't want to be tarred with the same brush as Disney.
Tilda Swinton, who plays the White Witch with an evil iciness that could snap freeze whole congregations, had not read the books when Adamson first approached her. A long-time collaborator with the now-deceased queer filmmaker Derek Jarman, she is probably the least likely actress in the world to join forces with Bible bashers. "The Christians are welcome," she says, with composed irony. "As everyone is welcome. Honestly, the connection had to be explained to me. And the more I got to know about Lewis ... I know he was a very devout Christian and that he was capable of writing, as he did his entire life, very obviously Christian tracts. This is not one of them."
Narnia is undoubtedly spiritual, she says, but its world derives from myths and legends that prefigure the religion of tracts. "In fact, if anything - and I cannot believe I am going to say this - I think it is almost anti-religious," she says.
"What I mean by that is that it's about children learning to draw not on any kind of dogma or doctrine but on their own resources, outside of the box. Outside their family, outside parental guidance, outside anything. The thing about Narnia is that it takes you to the heart of yourself, your own conscience and your own experience, and so I think it is so much wider than any religion could be, actually."
If there is evil in the world, she thinks it lies in the lack of doubt. "The incapacity to be compassionate, to be humane and changeable. I am very intrigued by the idea of the righteous. I am suspicious of it, being human. I think that human nature is so much more interesting than that; doubtlessness is not helpful to human beings. So to start the year as the Angel Gabriel in Constantine - and that is the film for the Christians, by the way, not this one - and finish it with the White Witch is a sort of little meditation for me on that idea."
Some Narnia naysayers, most notably the author Philip Pullman, have complained of the conservatism, racism and sexism inscribed in Lewis' stories. "It's not the presence of Christian doctrine I object to so much as the absence of Christian virtue," he said recently.
The Narnia books contained "a peevish blend of racist, misogynistic and reactionary prejudice, but of love, of Christian charity, there is not a trace". In subsequent books, Narnia is at war with a country of swarthy men who carry scimitars, a clear reference to the Crusades. From the first, boys have adventures and take bossy command, he says, while girls are bonny and blithe and pure of heart. God is a lion, a representative of muscular Christianity, while evil, inevitably, is a woman.(...)
Andrew Adamson simply shrugs off the Christian marketing push as a press beat-up. "Largely, I think it is because people haven't seen the movie," he says. "The truth of the matter is that Disney is promoting this movie to everyone they can get to go and see it, because they want to make their money back. And C.S. Lewis was a Christian writer and there is, I think, a sense of ownership of this film from fans worldwide, some of whom are religious."(...)
Clearly, nobody involved in the film was especially concerned with C.S. Lewis' allusion to the central story of Christianity. And why should they be? Isn't it a good story - one of the greatest, most primal of stories, in fact, along with the Greco-Roman and Norse myths on which Lewis also drew? Of course, it is true that Lewis did see the books as preparatory texts in Christian spirituality, easing the way for the juvenile reader's encounter with the real thing in later years(...)
All Lewis is suggesting is a spirited romp with centaurs, beavers and a rather unpredictable lion: make of it what you will. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is hardly likely to deprave and corrupt nature's young atheists; most children don't even get the metaphor and, if they do, it is probably because the God-botherers already have them in iron thrall(...)
So bring on the lion, bring on the minotaurs, bring on the dancing horses. Apart from anything else, the pious don certainly knew how to spin a yarn.
Meet Mr. Narnia By MICHAEL COREN Saturday, December 17, 2005 Page D3, The Globe and Mail Newspaper The Narnian: The Life and Imagination of C. S. Lewis By Alan Jacobs If only I'd bought stocks in C. S. Lewis Incorporated when they were cheap. Oh well, who knew? The first of a planned series of five movies is playing to huge audiences, toy figures from the world of Narnia do righteous battle on store shelves throughout the world and every third person who has ever heard of Jack Lewis has written a book about the great man. And great he most certainly was(...)
4) http://www.newkerala.com/news.php?action=fullnews&id=68624 NewKerala.com - Ernakulam, Kerala, India 'Narnia' roars into US box office
New York : Walt Disney Pictures' new film "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe" has hit the bull's eye at the box office.
5) http://www.kentucky.com/mld/heraldleader/living/religion/13410836.htm Posted on Sat, Dec. 17, 2005 'Narnia' aims at 'Passion of the Christ' box office By Mark I. Pinsky THE ORLANDO SENTINEL Lexington Herald Leader - Lexington,KY,USA
In promoting The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to evangelical Christians, the Walt Disney Co. has taken a page from the marketing playbook of Mel Gibson's controversial blockbuster, The Passion of the Christ -- including using the same marketing guru as Gibson and arranging screenings for church groups.
Fandango, the nation's largest movie-ticketing service, reported last week that Narnia accounted for 75 percent of the service's weekly advance ticket sales(...)
Hollywood will be watching. If a story widely interpreted as a Christian allegory can be a smash hit, "It would dispel the notion that The Passion was a perfect storm of controversy and publicity that would never be repeated," said Craig Detweiler, chairman of the film department at Biola University in Los Angeles(...)
6) http://www.narniafans.com/?id=660 Anshutz, Narnia, and Christianity in Hollywood 12 Dec 2005 by Paul Martin Contributing sources: The American Enterprise At the start of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, we find C. S. Lewis's mythical world of talking animals, satyrs, fauns, centaurs, and dwarves trapped in the Hundred Year Winter-a time where evil reigns and creativity has given way to cruelty. And so it remains until a mighty lion messiah roars onto the scene to awaken warmth and hope.
Philip Anschutz is no messiah, but he has made it his ambition to lead Hollywood out of a cynical and amoral ice age. Will this self-made Colorado billionaire become modern entertainment's rescuer, a lion-hearted savior of American film?
Anschutz is a spectacularly successful oil/railroad/fiber-optic/sports/entertainment magnate. He is also an evangelical Christian and father of three children who got so fed up with the tawdry state of Hollywood fare that he decided to get into the business himself by launching two film companies. He has spent a reported $150 million to $200 million to turn the first book in Lewis's beloved Chronicles of Narnia series into one of the biggest film releases of this holiday season. The plan is to eventually translate all seven books into high-quality films.
Narnia is a land of myth and fantasy, human moral struggle, and larger-than-life heroism. Beneath the surface it presents an unmistakable allegory for the Christian life, infused with the theological insights of its deeply believing author. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe film project is the highest-profile sign of what may be a major cultural shift in Hollywood, made possible not only by big-bucks investors like Anschutz, but also by other brave producers within the film world, and by a public that keeps telling the industry it is not satisfied with most of the fare it's now being offered.
Patron of hard cases "The movie business is not a very good business in many ways. No one with any sense would get into it," said Anschutz at a Hillsdale College speech in February 2004. It was a rare public appearance for the publicity-shy executive, who hasn't granted an interview in 30 years. "My friends think I'm a candidate for a lobotomy, and my competitors think I'm naive or stupid, or both." It's easy to see why conservatives, in particular, would be dubious of his plunge into Hollywood, with its blend of debauched fare and radical politics. But Anschutz has been taking on lost causes for most of his life.
Take Step 13. Based in Anschutz's hometown of Denver, it is a home for alcoholic men who have hit rock bottom. The tough-love, faith-based rehab program struggled to stay afloat until one day when Anschutz literally showed up on director Bob Cote's doorstep, unannounced, and wrote a check to build the facility's chapel. Ten years later, Anschutz donated hundreds of thousands of dollars when Step 13 lost its lease, to help buy a home for the organization. (See "Rocky Mountain Sheriff," TAE, October/November 2002.)
In the business world, Anschutz's pattern has been the same. He has consistently taken on high-risk industries that most others have shied away from. Turning underperformers into massive moneymakers is what elevated him from child of a bankrupt home to #28 on the latest Forbes 400 list of the richest individuals in America.
A few years ago, Anschutz started gobbling up movie-theater chains, a move that had industry analysts baffled. Cinema attendance had been in steady decline for years, and the survivors were in cutthroat competition with each other, as well as with cheap DVDs and digital cable that had audiences staying home. Experts had declared the business all but dead.
Anschutz disagreed. During the 1990s, he had bought old railroads cheaply, then coaxed a golden new revenue stream out of them by selling rights-of-way for new fiber-optic lines alongside his trackbeds. Now he saw the same technological innovation-fiber optics-giving movie houses a fresh hold on profitability. He poured more than $700 million into buying three theater chains that had filed for bankruptcy: United Artists, Regal, and Edwards, giving him control of 6,273 screens, or 18 percent of the market, the country's largest string of cinemas.
Anschutz's master plan is to convert all of his theaters to digital technology-eliminating the cumbersome celluloid film reels that have to be shipped across the country, manually operated, then shipped back. If theaters could simply download their films as computer files and then project them through computer-controlled routers, there could be large cost savings. This scenario is especially practical for Anschutz, given that his company, Qwest, already owns a significant chunk of America's backbone of fiber-optic lines. (High-resolution films require large telecom "pipes" to travel from locale to locale.)
Taking a higher road But Anschutz's big movie gamble is based on more than just fresh technology. The cause of declining ticket sales, Anschutz reasons, isn't just the ease and convenience of home viewing. It's also the deteriorating content of Hollywood's products-which are too often vulgar, violent, sexualized, dark, and depressing. For many American families, especially religious ones (who are a much bigger fraction of the population than entertainment executives have ever acknowledged), the movie theater is no longer a pleasant or even safe place to bring children. This major bloc of the market has been ignored by Hollywood.
Producers have "misread what audiences want," says Craig Detweiler, professor of mass communications at Southern California's Biola University. "Audiences have proved more discerning of quality than Hollywood expected." Thus, the repeated syndrome of movie elites underestimating the public appetite for higher quality and family-friendly entertainment, while overestimating the appeal of R-rated dross. (See "Stupid Hollywood," SCAN, TAE, July/August 2005.)(...)
7) http://torontosun.com/News/Columnists/Woodcock_Connie/2005/12/12/1349066.html Christmas bashing extends to Narnia Toronto Sun, Canada By CONNIE WOODCOCK So here we are in December, once the jolliest month of the year but now time once again for the Christmas tug-of-war.
Oops. Hope I didn't offend anyone with that C-word.
But you know what I mean. Will we have a community Christmas tree or a "holiday tree"? Will we wish each other a "merry Christmas" or "happy holidays"? Will we sing winter festival songs or Christmas carols? It is all so stupid.
This year's struggle began even before the first day of Advent, when a spokesman for the Governor General announced Her Excellency was going to light a "holiday tree" this year, instead of a Christmas tree.
It turned out to be an error on the flack's part which was corrected the next day. But by then it was too late. We were up to our ears in anti-Christmas propaganda.
There was the case of the Boston Christmas tree, donated annually to that city by the Nova Scotia government. The city decided to call it a "holiday tree" -- and all hell broke loose.
As the volume of the screaming rose, the Nova Scotian who donated the tree said he wished he'd put the darn thing through a chipper rather than send it south. The city eventually backed down and it was a Christmas tree again.
To forestall similar events in Washington, D.C., the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives ordered that the Capitol's huge tree, called a "holiday tree" in the Clinton years, be known as a Christmas tree.
After 14 or 15 years of this stuff, is it any wonder I'm beginning to dread this time of year?
And now there's a new twist: The movie version of C.S. Lewis' beloved The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was released Friday and that means yet another round of Christian-bashing is in full swing.
The first volume of Lewis' Narnia series is a Christian allegory featuring a lion who saves a child from evil and is then killed himself, only to rise again.
I remember reading it when I was 9 or 10 and failed to realize there was an underlying message. I thought it was just a good story. And like so many other good stories, I read it again and again, although the later books in the series failed to attract me quite as much, mainly because Lewis, one of Christianity's great writers, was less and less able to bury his message in the story.
The movie began to garner unpleasant politically-correct sentiments long before its release. Typical of the view: A Globe and Mail story last weekend reported the movie contained "unavoidably Christian images."
Yikes, Christian content -- peace, love, joy, charity sacrifice, redemption. Better run for your life!
A number of online publications have referred to the movie as Christian propaganda and even Disney, one of the film's owners, is downplaying the Christian angle. Meanwhile, it is rumoured to have quietly wooed the Christian audience with special learning materials and previews for ministers.
It's all so tiresome. I am no fan of the Christian right, just as I am no fan of the mushy-minded secular left. They should both drop all this nonsense.
Cooler minds realize that this is December; large evergreens wearing lights are, therefore, Christmas trees. And The Lion is a good book and promises to be a good movie, no matter what you believe, or don't.
Christmas is the season of love, joy and hope, which can be appreciated no matter what religion you are, or aren't.
The funny thing about this fuss is that I don't know a single soul who really objects to Christmas. Never have. What can possibly be wrong with love, joy and hope?
And a merry Christmas to you, too.
8) http://www.di-ve.com/dive/portal/portal.jhtml?id=211130&pid=193 Narnia's Aslan is king of the Box Office by Mario Azzopardi, Malta, Mediterranean Saturday, 17 December, 2005
With Harry's magic waning considerably, Aslan's magic roared forth in the fantasy-fueled battle for ticket sales(...)
Tuesday, Dec 06 The Lion (Witch and Wardrobe) King: Philip Anschutz spins a Narn'
He has the kingdom and the power - can he find the glory?(...)
10) http://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/articles/2005/12/16/features/arts/barts1216.txt Cleveland Jewish News - Cleveland,OH,USA Lion, witch, wardrobe and the Jesus allegory By: JOE ESKENAZI j. The Jewish news weekly of Northern California (...)And the Jewish community is, … well, no one knows quite what to think
That's because the film in question isn't Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ."(...) "Should Jewish children see this movie or read the books? I'm unsure. My personal jury is still out," said Rabbi Judah Dardik, spiritual leader of Beth Jacob Congregation in Oakland, Calif. "I read them; clearly, it didn't affect my personal theology."(...) But "Lion" is no "Passion." Compared with the extremely negative reaction "Passion" garnered from Jewish organizations before, during, and after its release, the marketing of Christian allegory as popular entertainment in "Lion" has created hardly a ripple(...) Once it's known that Lewis was a theologian who wrote with a Christian message in mind, the parallels between the Narnia tales and the New Testament easily fall into place.
For starters:
o Narnia, a magical kingdom created by the divine King Aslan, is currently in a state of perpetual winter due to a curse of the evil White Witch. The four children (two "Sons of Adam," two "Daughters of Eve") stumble in via the enchanted, eponymous wardrobe and become the disciples of Aslan.
The child Edmund betrays his siblings and Aslan, Judas-style, to aid the White Witch, and he is saved when Aslan allows himself to be sacrificed, not unlike Jesus.
o Aslan is resurrected, and the White Witch is vanquished. The four children are crowned kings and queens of Narnia. Peter n not a coincidental choice of names n becomes High King.
o In the last of the "Chronicles of Narnia," fittingly titled "The Last Battle," an army of people described in a manner recalling the medieval Turks and aligned with a donkey in a lion costume (a false god, if you will) invades Narnia.
Those who believe in Aslan pass through a gate into another realm. After a terrifying moment passing through the gate, a beautiful kingdom is revealed. Aslan decrees that he has ended Narnia just as he began it, and the four children, who died in the world of postwar Great Britain, can now live with him forever in paradise along with other believers.
You figure it out(...)
11) http://revanchist.blogspot.com/2005/12/oh-canada-chapter-13-dumbing-down.html The Revanchist Review by Ben Buan Friday, December 16, 2005 Oh, Canada! Chapter 13 - Dumbing Down Debate
12) http://kluth.org Maximum Generosity Website Wise Men Still Bring Him Gifts" Matt 2:11 (The wise men) saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. A brilliant Stewardship Sermon on 2 Cor 8-9 by Pastor Brian Kluth bk@kluth.org Senior Pastor, First Evangelical Free Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA http://kluth.org/Speaking/WiseMenStillBringHimGifts-2Cor89.htm (written) http://www.acidplanet.com/Components/Download.asp?PID=697752&T=5762 (video) http://1freechurch.org/sermons/2005/120405.m3u (audio only)
-To Sign up for Brian Kluth's free Stewardship web-newsletter, click on http://visitor.constantcontact.com/email.jsp?m=1011333638027&lang=en
Thoughts by Pastor Dave Carson, VPPF Leadership Team On Wednesday, December 14th, I attended a leadership meeting in Richmond with MP, Pat O'Brien (Liberal), former MP and Deputy Leader, Grant Hill, (PC), to discuss how the Christian community can mobilize to see a pro-marriage government elected in the 39th Parliament. This event was part of a cross-Canada, non-partisan, tour by 'Vote Marriage Canada', to rally strategic support for pro-marriage candidates. It was interesting that in the first election debate the Conservative Leader said that, while he would put the issue of gay marriage to the House of Commons for a vote, he would not try to get around any future court decisions by using the constitutional notwithstanding clause. This issue needs much prayer. Please see www.promarriage.ca and consider being a volunteer to pray.
14) http://www.promarriage.ca/votemarriage.htm "DEFEND MARRIAGE" TO OPERATE AS "VOTE MARRIAGE CANADA " FOR ELECTION WRIT PERIOD LONDON , Ontario - Outgoing London- Fanshawe , Ontario , Member of Parliament Pat O'Brien announced, today, that the campaign announced on November 22 nd by Mr. O'Brien and the Hon. Grant Hill, P.C., will operate as "Vote Marriage Canada" throughout the federal election, Writ period(...) Vote Marriage Canada operates as a third party under section 353 of the Canada Elections Act .
" It's time for Parliament and the Government of Canada to support and to promote marriage as the legal union of one man and one woman, the foundation of families and Canadian society. It's time to vote for marriage ," Mr. O'Brien added.
15) http://www.howdtheyvote.ca/ Have you ever wondered how your member of parliament has been voting? We've made it easy for you to find out! Examples: For those living in Port Coquitlam, Port Moody and Westwood, the Conservative candidate James Moore voted in favor of Bill C-38 (in favor of redefining marriage). The pro-Marriage candidate in this riding is Greg Watrich (www.gregwatrich.com/ ) -In the North Vancouver Riding, the Liberal MP Don Bell voted in favour of Bill C-38. Cindy Silver (CPC) supports the traditional definition of marriage. Both interestingly enough attend the same North Shore Alliance Church.
16) http://www.evangelicalfellowship.ca/social/page_viewer.asp?SI_Page_ID=31 Election 2006 Do's and Don'ts for Churches 17) http://www.citizenimpact.ca/fed_election/order.html Brillant Posters to help turn around the appalling figure that only 50% of Canadian Christians bother to vote.
18) http://www.familyaction.org/Articles/issues/2006election/cdns-outside.htm Canada needs YOU to vote! Don't delay as mail takes time. Anyone who will be away from their riding - VOTE by mail in. Here is the link to Elections Canada for the form. http://www.elections.ca/content.asp?section=ins&document=index&dir=snow&lang=e&textonly=false In summary, A person who has a residence in Canada but is away from their riding can vote in the Jan 23 election. You must go to the Election Canada site - download a form , fill in the form, FAX back to 613-998-8393 or 1-800-363-4796. Note: Anyone can vote at any time once an election is called by simply calling your local returning officer.
19) http://www.familyaction.org/PDFs/2006-Voters-Guide.pdf 'Pro-Marriage Network' Voters' Guide for the Canadian 2006 Election
20) http://www.stsimonschurch.ca St. Simon's NV Advent/Christmas Schedule One Location: Lions Gate Christian Academy 420 Seymour River Place, North Vancouver (1st Exit off 2nd Narrows Bridge: Right by Maplewood Farms) Dec 18th Joint 10am "Children's Christmas Pageant and Carol Service" Pageant Title: "The Dancing Star" Dec 24th 7pm Christmas Eve Communion Isaiah 9:1-7 "Unto Us a Son is Born" Dec 24th 11pm Midnight Christmas Eve Communion Luke 2:1-20 "One Night in Bethlehem" Dec 25th 10am Joint Christmas Day Communion with St. Timothy's Church at Lions Gate Christian Academy (The Rev Ken Bell preaching) January 1st 1st Sunday After Christmas 9am Traditional BCP Service 10:30am Contemporary Service.
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