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LDS or Mormon cinema refers to motion pictures with themes relevant to Latter-day Saints. Many of these films are screened extensively within high LDS population centers such as Utah, and they do not regularly reach mainstream viewers in other parts of the world.LDS cinema films are distinct from LDS Church movies like Legacy and Testaments, because they are commercial films and not produced primarily for teaching or proselytizing LDS doctrine. LDS cinema is usually produced and directed by Latter-day Saints. The films have LDS themes and they are typically marketed especially toward Latter-day Saints. This differentiates LDS cinema from films merely produced by Latter-day Saints like Don Bluth, or films about LDS themes from an outside perspective.
1 History of LDS cinema
The Mormon cinema movement began around 1999, when Richard Dutcher's company Zion Films released God's Army commercially. The film, which was produced on a budget of $300,000, grossed about $2.5 million at the box office and many more millions of dollars worth of video purchases. Observing the market success of God's Army, many other LDS studios began producing films.
Although God's Army dealt with the overtly religious subject of LDS missionaries, and many LDS comedies are nearly incomprehensible to people outside The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a growing trend in LDS cinema is make LDS-themed movies more broadly accessible. The acclaimed World War II movie Saints and Soldiers is perhaps the most successful crossover LDS film to date. The tendency to make films more accessible has ensured larger potential markets as well. LDS comedies in particular have been panned by critics as inaccessible and unfunny to those outside the intended market. Such movies depend on the audience's knowledge of LDS practices, and often LDS cultural norms almost unique to Utah.
2 LDS cinema and MPAA ratings
One unique aspect of LDS cinema is heightened concern over MPAA film ratings. Many Latter-day Saints feel disinclined to view movies rated PG-13 and especially R. This standard has never been part of LDS Church doctrine because the MPAA is a United States institution irrelevant to Latter-day Saints overseas, and the ratings are somewhat arbitrary. Nonetheless, LDS film producers value a PG rating.
One PG-13 film, The Book of Mormon Movie, Vol. 1 garnered its rating for depicting a decapitation that occurs in the Book of MormonThe Book of Mormon is a sacred text of Mormonism first published in Palmyra, New York, USA, in March 1830 by Joseph Smith, Jr. The book's self-declared main purpose is to testify of Jesus Christ, through the writings of ancient American prophets. It asser. Producers defended the muted scene as essential, and some Latter-day Saints leveled a common criticism against the MPAA—that it rates non- studioThe Big Ten refers to the ten major Hollywood movie studios: 20th Century Fox Buena Vista (Disney Studios) Dreamworks SKG New Line Cinema MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) Miramax/Dimension Films Paramount Pictures Sony Pictures Universal Studios Warner Bros. films more harshly. Nonetheless, the movie was re-edited to attain a PG rating for DVDDVD is an optical disc storage media format that is used for playback of movies with high video and sound quality and for storing data. DVDs are similar in appearance to compact discs. History During the early 1990s there were two high density optical sto distribution. Criticism intensified after Saints and Soldiers received an R-rating prior to film festivalA film festival is a mostly annual festival showcasing films, usually of a recent date, sometimes with a focus on a specific genre (e. animation) or subject (e. gay and lesbian film festivals). The world's first major film festival was held in Venice in 1 screening in spite of being very mild compared to other R-rated films. Producers edited the movie to receive PG-13 for commercial distribution.
