Check out the previews for "Jerusalem Countdown"

[coachx]

http://jerusalemcountdown.com/A 2:30 preview is at the bottom of the home page. I have not seen John Lee Majors since "Fall Guy." Looks like an action packed thriller that may not be that far fetched. Edited June 2, 2011 by coachx

[niremetal]

http://jerusalemcountdown.com/A 2:30 preview is at the bottom of the home page. I have not seen John Lee Majors since "Fall Guy." Looks like an action packed thriller that may not be that far fetched.

This is a low-budget film from a small Christian film production company with no major stars (no, Lee Majors doesn't count) based on a book by Crazy John Hagee about his view of the coming of the Christian apocalypse and the Antichrist. I will lay very generous odds that this movie fails to bring in more than $10M at the box office, much less become a "blockbuster." Wanna know why? Because it's a low-budget movie based on a book by John Hagee. Distributed by a company that mainly does direct-to-video films.Frankly, this thread belongs in Religion/Politics, not The Lounge. It's not a movie that will be appearing in a theater near you. Edited June 7, 2011 by niremetal

[DrReality]

Right wing fundamentalist will probably love it. The book series Left Behind sold millions so dont' be too sure.

[Dragitoff]

Be careful about what you say regarding the low-budget Christian films. While I don't see this being tops at the box office, Christian films CAN do well at the box office. A church in my town has done 3 films (the 4th soon to be released), Flywheel, Facing the Giants, and Fireproof and the last 2 did pretty good for them. It's help fund future movies as well as many other things for the community and the church. As a father of 2 small girls, I welcome Christian films that portray wholesome values for our family to watch together. This looks more like its targeting an older crowd, but I'm all for Christian-based films regardless of the budget.

[niremetal]

Be careful about what you say regarding the low-budget Christian films. While I don't see this being tops at the box office, Christian films CAN do well at the box office. A church in my town has done 3 films (the 4th soon to be released), Flywheel, Facing the Giants, and Fireproof and the last 2 did pretty good for them. It's help fund future movies as well as many other things for the community and the church. As a father of 2 small girls, I welcome Christian films that portray wholesome values for our family to watch together. This looks more like its targeting an older crowd, but I'm all for Christian-based films regardless of the budget.

...none of which affects my statement that this thread should have been posted in the Politics and Religion forum. In fact, your statement that you're "all for Christian-based films regardless of the budget" reinforces that point. This film is meant to appeal to evangelical Christians. Its appeal to people outside that group is as close to zero as a film can get.That also doesn't affect my assertion that this particular film is not likely to be shown in many movie theaters. Fireproof and Facing the Giants were both distributed by Samuel Goldwyn Films, one of the larger independent film companies. Even counting those two, which were, I admit, produced by low-budget Christian film companies (unlike, say, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Nativity Story, and The Passion of the Christ, which were Christian-themed films produced with large budgets by major film production companies), only 5 films produced by Christian film studios have ever cracked $10M at the box office - Fireproof, Facing the Giants, One Night With the King, The Omega Code, and End of the Spear. And of those, Fireproof is the ONLY film produced by one of the numerous small Christian film outlets to crack $15M at the box office. AND even Fireproof - at $33M gross - was far, far, far, far, far, far from a blockbuster. It was the 84th highest-grossing movie of 2008.Unless there is some indication that this film will receive a wide release, this topic is more appropriately placed in the Politics/Religion forum. The merits of a film aimed at evangelical Christians and that will be watched almost exclusively by evangelical Christians is exactly the sort of potentially contentious topic that belongs in that forum. Edited June 13, 2011 by niremetal

[Dragitoff]

...none of which affects my statement that this thread should have been posted in the Politics and Religion forum. In fact, your statement that you're "all for Christian-based films regardless of the budget" reinforces that point. This film is meant to appeal to evangelical Christians. Its appeal to people outside that group is as close to zero as a film can get.That also doesn't affect my assertion that this particular film is not likely to be shown in many movie theaters. Fireproof and Facing the Giants were both distributed by Samuel Goldwyn Films, one of the larger independent film companies. Even counting those two, which were, I admit, produced by low-budget Christian film companies (unlike, say, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Nativity Story, and The Passion of the Christ, which were Christian-themed films produced with large budgets by major film production companies), only 5 films produced by Christian film studios have ever cracked $10M at the box office - Fireproof, Facing the Giants, One Night With the King, The Omega Code, and End of the Spear. And of those, Fireproof is the ONLY film produced by one of the numerous small Christian film outlets to crack $15M at the box office. AND even Fireproof - at $33M gross - was far, far, far, far, far, far from a blockbuster. It was the 84th highest-grossing movie of 2008.Unless there is some indication that this film will receive a wide release, this topic is more appropriately placed in the Politics/Religion forum. The merits of a film aimed at evangelical Christians and that will be watched almost exclusively by evangelical Christians is exactly the sort of potentially contentious topic that belongs in that forum.

Wow. Seems like someone struck a nerve with you on this one. I do agree that the phrasing of a "blockbuster" was definitely misleading, but c'mon. Is it really that big of a deal? You seem like you're really getting bent out of shape on this one.

[Admin]

Instead of discussing the merits of where this topic belongs why not just PM AHF or myself and ask us to see whether it should be moved. I'm on the fence about this one since this is the forum where movie discussion belongs but it is religious based so I can see why some may feel it doesn't belong here. For now I'm going to leave it here and if the discussion gets out of hand then I will move it.

[niremetal]

Instead of discussing the merits of where this topic belongs why not just PM AHF or myself and ask us to see whether it should be moved. I'm on the fence about this one since this is the forum where movie discussion belongs but it is religious based so I can see why some may feel it doesn't belong here. For now I'm going to leave it here and if the discussion gets out of hand then I will move it.

Fair enough.

[thecampster]

Had the subject gotten into film content, I would have agreed it should have been in Politics and Religion. But based simply on the concept of "what do you think of the movie as an idea" no.I'm not a rapture guy, but films / books on it interest me from a "what others are thinking" point of view.I watched the trailer, seemed like it would be a movie that wasn't sure what it was trying to prove to me. Was it a rapture movie, post rapture movie or a spy thriller? Seemed unnecessarily complicatedin the trailer alone.

[Plainview1981]

Had the subject gotten into film content, I would have agreed it should have been in Politics and Religion. But based simply on the concept of "what do you think of the movie as an idea" no.I'm not a rapture guy, but films / books on it interest me from a "what others are thinking" point of view.I watched the trailer, seemed like it would be a movie that wasn't sure what it was trying to prove to me. Was it a rapture movie, post rapture movie or a spy thriller? Seemed unnecessarily complicatedin the trailer alone.

It looks silly and it's probably stupid... Considering it's based off a book from someone like John Hagee that doesn't do it any favors.

[lethalweapon3]

It looks like a globebuster! LOL

Don't get excited if you run into COUNTDOWN: JERUSALEM (Also goes by "Countdown: Armageddon"; "In the tradition of 'The Omega Code" and "Left Behind"; The End Isn't Near... It's Here! Oh Noes!") at your local redbox. No relation at all with J.C. ("A Prelude to Armageddon"; "The Crisis of Tomorrow... Today! Oh Noes!")

I, for one, have abundant hope for ANY movie that has Randy Travis, Jaci Velasquez, and Stacy Keach in featured roles. I know, the big-budget flicks get most of the attention come Razzie Award time, but here's a clear underdog that could be screaming out for a nomination. Don't you wish you could say with pride you were among the first to see Troll 2 in the theatre, back before it was cool? Or Showgirls, Waterworld, Highlander II, Battlefield Earth? This will be worth my time if it's nearly as bad. There are movies that come along every few years that become second-run movie house legends for generations, and this totally has potential. Somebody call T.O. I'm gettin' my popcorn ready!

~lw3

[HawkItus]

Be careful about what you say regarding the low-budget Christian films. While I don't see this being tops at the box office, Christian films CAN do well at the box office. A church in my town has done 3 films (the 4th soon to be released), Flywheel, Facing the Giants, and Fireproof and the last 2 did pretty good for them. It's help fund future movies as well as many other things for the community and the church. As a father of 2 small girls, I welcome Christian films that portray wholesome values for our family to watch together. This looks more like its targeting an older crowd, but I'm all for Christian-based films regardless of the budget.

All good movies. Facing the giants was my favorite.

[Plainview1981]

It looks like a globebuster! LOL

Don't get excited if you run into COUNTDOWN: JERUSALEM (Also goes by "Countdown: Armageddon"; "In the tradition of 'The Omega Code" and "Left Behind"; The End Isn't Near... It's Here! Oh Noes!") at your local redbox. No relation at all with J.C. ("A Prelude to Armageddon"; "The Crisis of Tomorrow... Today! Oh Noes!")

I, for one, have abundant hope for ANY movie that has Randy Travis, Jaci Velasquez, and Stacy Keach in featured roles. I know, the big-budget flicks get most of the attention come Razzie Award time, but here's a clear underdog that could be screaming out for a nomination. Don't you wish you could say with pride you were among the first to see Troll 2 in the theatre, back before it was cool? Or Showgirls, Waterworld, Highlander II, Battlefield Earth? This will be worth my time if it's nearly as bad. There are movies that come along every few years that become second-run movie house legends for generations, and this totally has potential. Somebody call T.O. I'm gettin' my popcorn ready!

~lw3

Almost nobody is going to care about this movie or even see it. Funny enough... It doesn't even come up on the rottentomatoes website.

[lethalweapon3]

Almost nobody is going to care about this movie or even see it. Funny enough... It doesn't even come up on the rottentomatoes website.

It was supposed to get released in August or something*, so they'll throw a page up there soon. One thing is for sure... My dude Armond White is going to LOVE it! "Fresh!"

* (From the website: "Jerusalem Countdown will open in select theaters/churches August 26th. Now is the time to plan and prepare...") Ya gotta love the use of the "slash." With the "select theaters-slash-churches" we got, you won't have a hard time finding it around these parts... I'll just leave it there.

~lw3

[Dragitoff]

All good movies. Facing the giants was my favorite.

It was mine too, but I'm partial since they filmed most of it at my old high school. I knew almost everyone in those movies and the shipping manager for our business was one of the main characters in Flywheel. We were just talking about how that movie grossed over $20 million. Not bad for a movie with a $20K budget ($16K of which went towards buying the camera used to film it) lol.

[lethalweapon3]

It goes down August 26! No, not the Earth, mind you...http://jerusalemcountdown.com/theatersC'mon, Georgia, get with it! Please don't make me have to wait for the DVD giveaway at Chick-fil-A! And don't make me have to roll all the way over to the Highway 2 Heaven Biker Church (if they do, those folks better have some Goobers and Twizzlers!)~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

Almost nobody is going to care about this movie or even see it. Funny enough... It doesn't even come up on the rottentomatoes website.

Watch this space!http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/jerusalem_countdown/~lw3

[niremetal]

Update: As far as I can tell, this never got released to theaters because it doesn't show up in any of the box office watching sites. It ended up going straight to DVD. So the original prediction that this would be a "blockbuster" (which was the subtitle on the thread before Dolfan revamped the site) didn't exactly come to fruition.

[Plainview1981]

Update: As far as I can tell, this never got released to theaters because it doesn't show up in any of the box office watching sites. It ended up going straight to DVD. So the original prediction that this would be a "blockbuster" (which was the subtitle on the thread before Dolfan revamped the site) didn't exactly come to fruition.

Ha ha ha

[lethalweapon3]

Y'all must have talked this up! This flick was on TV, last Saturday morning, on one of those Xian cable channels (can't remember which one, I got like 59 of 'em. Daystar, maybe?) Was on from like 7 to 9 AM. Mumbling dialogue that was unwatchable for more than 30 seconds at a time. Poor Lee Majors was looking at the camera like, "seriously? It has come to this?" Not sure when Randy Travis' intoxication issues started, but his role in this assault-on-celluloid didn't help him much.

Eerie to me was it preceded their Saturday morning run of Xian kiddie cartoons. "Don't leave, kids! Up next after murder, mayhem, and the Rapture, stay tuned for Bibleman!" (an actual thing, btw).

~lw3