Metro Voice News Celebrating Faith, Family & Community
Film and music legend Pat Boone explains why Hollywood needs to return to faith and family-friendly content, citing their proven success at the box office.
“People waste millions making sordid, corrupt films that fail,” he said at the MovieGuide Awards. “But if you want to make a successful, profitable film, make it family friendly, make it faith friendly, make it a good story and do it well, and you’ve got a great shot.”
Boone made his first professional recording debut in 1955 and appeared in more than 40 television and movies over the course of his career. However, he said the current state of Hollywood differs from his experience, criticizing the production content of recent films that put the nation in a negative light.
“We used to be the best commercial for America in the world, we made good films and we always made America look great,” he said. “We became the envy of the rest of the world. We gotta start and continue to produce really good, positive things that make people glad to be alive and not afraid to be or sorry to be alive.”
Statistics reveal success of faith-based films consistently demonstrating strong returns on investment, averaging 1.5 times their production budgets.
“I make movies and I sing and I do all the things I’ve done as a career because I like doing it,” he said. “But, of course, you like it a lot better if it’s successful. But faith-based films, and even for that matter, music, television all do better with families in mind, if children are in mind and if something in your heart communicates that you want the best and not the worst.”
As a devout Christian, Boone never steered away from his beliefs, singing or acting style but rather found an audience for which he was well suited.
WSJ reports growth in family-friendly content, showing strong market potential in today’s diverse media landscape.
“You won’t always make money doing whatever it takes,” he said. “If you want to prosper, you want to prosper doing good. It pays to find the goodness in our God-ness. It would be better if we’re godly.”
Mario Lopez hosts the MovieGuide Awards, broadcasting at 7 p.m. on March 6 on the Great American Family channel.
