|TOP|The secular film industry has acknowledged Christian-themed movies as financial winners, due to a line of success seen in the genre.

Hollywood, having been criticised for decades by conservative Christians for profiting from violent or sexually graphic films, is now shifting its focus, increasingly aiming to make money by targeting Christian audiences.

The turning point was Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, according to Michael Flaherty, whose company made The Chronicles of Narnia. The film demonstrated that Christian productions can make money.

"Until two months before it was released, it was pretty much known as the least commercial property in Hollywood," he explained. "There's a lot of people in the faith community who are looking for these films that are uplifting."

|AD|20th Century Fox producer Ralph Winter agreed, saying that his company's home video department was enthusiastically pushing religious films.

"They're very interested in opening up that market so we have been making $2 million or $3 million movies based on (Christian) books," he said, albeit adding that people want good stories with the religion in the background. "No one wants to be preached to in a movie theater," he observed. "Movies that raise issues are more interesting than movies that try to give answers."

Jonathan Bock, a specialist in marketing to religious audiences, pointed out the potential of the religious market. "On Sunday, 43 percent of America was in church," he commented. "For studios to not recognize that's an audience is like them saying, 'We're not marketing movies to men.'"

In light of controversies regarding The Da Vinci Code, Tom Hanks, main actor of the film, claims that the movie could help ministers increase their congregations by starting a debate that will encourage more people to attend church.

Despite its condemnation by many Christians- even Bock thinks they will be keen to see it. He commented: "What they've come to believe is if the whole world wants to talk about Jesus, then let's be ready to have that conversation."