The Phenomenon of Facing the Giants
by Marc T. Newman, Ph.D.

Hollywood salivary glands must be working overtime as industry suits watch the grosses for a micro-budgeted little film produced by Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Georgia. In a savvy marketing move, distributors Samuel Goldwyn and Sony Pictures made sure that Facing the Giants did not have to face many at the box office. They launched this "little movie that could" right near the start of the high school football season that it depicts, and far enough ahead of any of the big "must see" films, such as Flags of Our Fathers or The Prestige and two weeks after Gridiron Gang. As a result, Facing the Giants, produced for $100,000 with volunteer actors, but a professional camera crew, has stunned the bean-counters with box office sales north of $6 million – so far. With the exception of the rapidly-expanding film The Queen, Facing the Giants had the smallest week over week drop of any film in the top thirty, and managed something else few films accomplish – the second week's weekday box office was actually larger than the first.

Don't get me wrong. If your production standard for film fare is Lord of the Rings or even The Guardian, Facing the Giants is not a great theatrical release. The acting is mostly wooden, the location sets lackluster, and the story's multiple conclusions are too miraculous for my tastes. By all normal measures of evaluating film as art, Facing the Giants fails. But the film is striking a chord with audiences because it is told with conviction when it counts, depicts Christians turning toward and trusting God for the results (something rare in film), and even though the tidy ending might be much, it reminds people that with God nothing is impossible. the rest