No Graceful Exit

We Colorado Springsians love our semi-faith-themed movies.

"Amazing Grace," the story of William Wilberforce's 18th-century battle against the British slave trade, was the fifth most-seen movie this past week around here, while it fell plumb out of the Top 10 nationally. It's taken in about $45,000 locally during the past two weeks, though it's been showing in only two theaters.

That's not nearly enough to pay even the catering costs for the film, but its strong local showing may illustrate the city's quirky Christian personality.

While Colorado Springs is actually fairly secular, many local churches talked up "Grace" weeks before its release, encouraging its congregants to go and send another bottom-line message to Hollywood. The film itself isn't overtly Christian, but its message and themes hit to the heart of many Christian sensibilities. It is, in fact, a bit of a Christian crossover flick -- something conservative and liberal Christians can enjoy for both its underlying faith content and its overt social justice themes.

Films that have catered to Colorado Springs churchgoers have done well here. The "Narnia" film had a multi-week run at the top of the charts, performing far better here than it did nationally (though it did pretty well across the country). But it's about quality, too -- and maybe about subtlety. The city's seen its share of low-budget, overtly Christian-themed films make their debuts, and most didn't make a dent in the Top 10.