THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST - CHURCHGOERS EXPECTED TO LIFT BOX OFFICE FOR EXPELLED

Some analysts are predicting that the same churchgoers who rarely go to the movies but who descended en masse on theaters showing Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ could make actor-commentator Ben Stein's documentary Expelled a box-office hit this weekend. The film purportedly documents a conspiracy in U.S. schools directed against those who believe in "intelligent design," that is, creationism. The Los Angeles Times observed today that while the film will likely make "no dent" at the box office despite plaything in more than 1,000 theaters, "it could dwarf forecasts with even a fraction of the faith-based crowd" that turned out for Gibson's film. The newspaper quoted Stein himself as saying, "This is David versus Goliath," a reference to the fact that his film will be competing against movies whose marketing costs alone exceed his production and marketing costs together. But University of Minnesota biologist P.Z. Myers told the Times that he was ambushed by the Expelled producers, who, he said, told him that the film was to be titled Crossroads: The Intersection of Science and Religion. Instead, he said, "we get a propaganda film portraying scientists as Nazis." He claims that he himself was expelled from a preview screening of Expelled after one of the film's producers spotted him in line.

18/04/2008