Michael Arndt was around Pixar for the four years it took to make Toy Story 3.
Walt Disney PicturesAbout 500 filmmakers and studio executives gathered at the Universal Hilton Friday night to honor movies that promote Judeo-Christian ethics, with top prizes going to The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Toy Story 3, Secretariat and Mao’s Last Dancer.
The Movieguide Faith and Values Awards was founded by theologian Ted Baehr and tickets go for $1,000 apiece, which includes the organization’s annual Report to the Entertainment Industry. The 80-page document makes the case that the sort of movies nominated by Movieguide are the most successful at the box office.
Movies with pro-atheism messages in 2010, for example, earned an average $6.6 million while movies portraying “very strong Biblical morality” earned $78 million. Movies with lots of profanity earned $23 million and movies without profanity earned $50 million. Movies with messages advocating a “Christian” worldview earned $105 million and those advocating “miscellaneous morality” earned $10 million, according to the study.
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Organizers gave top prizes in the various TV categories Friday night to Amish Grace and Christmas With a Captial C.
The gala was hosted by Kevin Sorbo, who also earned an acting award for his “inspiring performance” in the movie What If. Dean Cain gave Sorbo the trophy, and Sorbo recalled how the actors competed against each other in 1993 for the role of Clark Kent in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. Cain won.
“Media is the primary teacher of our children,” Sorbo said.
Helmut Schleppi, director of Christmas With a Captial C told the audience they should be “really proud of your country,” because films like the one he made wouldn’t be welcome in some European countries.
A little bit later, singer-actor Pat Boone, said: “I’m experiencing hope for the future of the entertainment industry. I was about to give up.”
Randall Wallace, director of Secretariat, said he thought he had hit the pinnacle of his career with writing Braveheart. “I thought I couldn’t be more happy or full of excitement than I was then,” he said.
“But sometimes our blessings exceed our expectations.”
A special lifetime achievement award went to songwriter Al Kasha, who earned Oscars for The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno.
The event featured clips from dozens of nominated films and TV shows, including True Grit, Get Low, Letters to God, The Book of Eli and How to Train Your Dragon.
