Xmas Greed

The poor showing of "The Nativity Story" this Christmas season is bad news for people of faith who hope Hollywood will make more feature films their families can enjoy, according to Christian movie reviewer Ted Baehr. "It's a very serious setback," said Baehr, founder and publisher of Movieguide and chairman of the Christian Film & Television Commission. The poor showing is all the more significant, Baehr told WND, because, unlike blockbusters "The Passion of the Christ" and "The Chronicles of Narnia," "Nativity was produced by a major studio, New Line Cinema.

Right now, Baehr noted, the easy money is made on "extremely bigoted, anti-Christian movies" such as "Borat" and "Jackass 2." Baehr said the performance of "Nativity" is especially disappointing because it's an exceptionally good film that adheres closely to the Bible. But as of Tuesday, "Nativity," with a production budget of $35 million, has an estimated gross box office of just $24.6 million in the U.S. since opening Dec. 1.

• JJ Commentary: CHRISTmas “spirit” has been replaced with Xmas greed, and people don’t want to be reminded of what this season is really all about, because then they might not get their plasma TV