John Benson says:

Mighty dumb posting. What’s up with the Dvorak postings lately? Maybe he should post a video that pushes the marketing of the Roman Catholic religion. Or an expose on the too-white Protestants. What’s next – an undercover hit piece on the rich Jews?

OhForTheLoveOf says:

Yet another post that makes fun of religious people…

Good.

Danijel says:

-I don’t want to sell crack no more!
-You don’t have a choice!
-God gives everyone a choice!

James Hill says:

As the only non-Mormon in Salt Lake (who posts on this blog), allow me to add a few points.

– The film Brigham City was a major flop, but not because of some guy holding a gun. Ted Bundy got his start in SLC, something this community does its best to not talk about (Mormon or otherwise). That film hit a bit too close to home.

– The one producer claiming to not have any ‘discretionary funds’ was amusing, because none of the Mormon film production houses have any extra money. They simply don’t operate like a typical Hollywood studio. They get a script, then hit up one of the local rich people to fund the project (Larry H. Miller, owner of the Utah Jazz and a major car dealer, being a prime money source). After the movie is made the backers receive a much larger cut of the profits than the average film, of which 10% always goes to the LDS church.

– These films follow a duh-simple formula to make money: Spend about $300,000 on a film, and they’ll double that amount by releasing the film only in Utah. Then, the money made on DVD sales is all gravy. And don’t worry, the two biggest theaters in SLC are owned by…. Larry H. Miller (see above). They’ll always get screen time.

– The movie they mentioned with Val Kilmer is the first test of if this formula can work with a big budget film. Your guess is as good as mine as to if it will work.

ArianeB says:

Religious culture films are a big potential market. Its not only the Mormons doing it. The Omega Code and its sequel were huge box office hits for audiences made up almost entirely of evangelical Christians. The Left Behind movie series (starring Kirk Cameron) has done well too, and lets not forget a little film called The Passion of the Christ.

All those Mormon films get released here in Arizona too. One could play the cynical card and say that they play in Arizona because Dan Harkins, owner of Harkins Theaters, is LDS. But, Harkins Theaters does not discriminate in any movies they play (all the nationally released NC-17 films get screen time too) as long as they can bring in customers.

Jägermeister says:

#8

Very interesting info on their movie business. One of my coworkers is a Mormon… and he’s pretty whacked. He believes in all kinds of stuff. I just can’t imagine living in a city that’s full of people like him… 😀

James Hill says:

#11 – Not from SLC, but committed his first murders around here after getting out on parole for robbery. I guess this town has that affect on people.

#12 – While it sounds like your coworker comes from the magic underwear side of things, many non-Utah mormons are shocked when they come here and realize that so many people here are mormon all the time. In other words, most mormons are like most catholics, and only hold themselves to the ideals of the religion when it fits them best.

#10 – Arizona, as well as Nevada, has its fare share of mormons, and I’d guess an LDS theater owner does play into it. Realize the same guy here has no problem show R rated films, though he is the same guy that banned Brokeback Mountain from his theaters.

Improbus says:

Who is more crazy, a Scientologist or a Mormon? If you can honestly believe in either you must have serious emotional/mental problems. I can say this because I do not believe in any spooky supernatural bull crap.

Nunya says:

Dan Harkins is not mormon. Not sure where anyone would get that idea. The movies play in Az because there is a large mormon demographic. Harkins plays what makes money.