It's a simple rule of marketing: Nothing sells better than controversy.

If you make a film about Christ expect people to go nuts about it on both sides of religion. Some of the more religious folks might say that it's a good way for people to learn about some of the stronger points of their faith. Some of the more "hard-lined" members might say that the movies are blasphemy. For the rest of us, it's now a curiosity. All of a sudden you want to see what's the big deal with the movie.

Some examples:

"The Last Temptation of Christ" (1987) explores the more "human" aspects as the man that is supposed to be also the Son of God. It actually explores the concept that Christ might have given into carnal desires in his final days before his imminent crucifixion and eventual resurrection. It drove the church nuts and there were countless protests in front of theaters - and the more protests occurred the more the box-office sales surged.

"Dogma" (1999) writer/director Kevin Smith decided to take a rather tongue-in-cheek look at religion through a story of fallen angels attempting to re-enter heaven and accidentally negate existence. One controversial topic brought up is that Jesus was black and there was a thirteenth apostle that was also black. There was also talk that Jesus had brothers and sisters that shared a little "divine touch" themselves. The movie not only infuriated the church, but it also intrigued quite a few church leaders. Again, good box office sales.

"The Passion of the Christ" (2004) This movie wasn't so controversial as it was thought-provoking. This time around the church's general view of the film was that of acceptance. Mel Gibson's look at Christ's final days pleased many churches so much that they would actually hold private screenings in their own chapels. It actually had the endorsement of the church which led to pretty decent earnings at the box office.

"The Da Vinci Code" (2006) Talk about controversy! The book itself was already a best seller because of its maverick concept that Christ might have been secretly married to Mary Magdelan and that there was some dark secret about it buried for centuries by some secret society. Well, you don't need divine prophecy to see how the church was going to react to this movie - and you didn't need a crystal ball to see how well it would do in the box office.

I think that controversy over these religious movies is only fair - especially how their anger over movies like the "Harry Potter" series and "The Golden Compass" improved their ticket sales.

Learn more about this author, David Furritus.
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