Sequel for ‘God’s Not Dead’ works to get out the vote

The creators of the 2014 blockbuster “God’s Not Dead” say their movie got evangelicals back to church. Ten years later, they hope an upcoming sequel gets them to the polls in November.

“It’s not saying to vote one way or the other, it’s just saying to vote,” said David A.R. White, the faith-based franchise’s star and co-producer.

“We’re here to say America was built on a lot of biblical attributes, and more and more we are going away from where it started,” he added in an interview with The Washington Times.

The fifth installment in the long-running series, “God’s Not Dead: In God We Trust,” opens Sept. 12 in theaters.

It tells the story of Reverend Dave, a pastor played by Mr. White in all five movies, reluctantly running for Congress to challenge the notion that “God is dead” in the public square.

Mr. White, the son of a Mennonite pastor, developed the idea three years ago. He said he chose to focus on politics after learning that 40 million Christians routinely sit out of presidential elections due to negative attitudes about the process.

“It’s a ’Mr. Smith Goes to Washington’ [type of film] that will hopefully leave the audience filled with inspiration and a kick in the butt to get involved,” Mr. White added.

The sequel arrives as recent polling suggests the religious right, once a formidable force in GOP politics, will have less impact than ever on the upcoming contest between Republican former President Donald Trump and Democrat Vice President Kamala Harris.

Pollster George Barna reported this month that a recent survey found just 10% of U.S. adults are evangelical Christians in a traditional sense, the equivalent of 25 to 30 million people, and only one-third are “very likely” to vote in November.

Mr. Barna, an evangelical pastor who has tracked religious trends for decades, said the findings confirm that evangelicals have become fragmented politically since the 1970s and 1980s.

According to film critics, the “God’s Not Dead” franchise has likewise suffered from diminishing returns, making it unclear whether the fifth installment will impact voter turnout.

Nevertheless, they praised the series for successfully preaching to the choir and expanding the market for independent Christian movies.

“The quality of the four films, unfortunately, doesn’t match the accomplishment of their financial achievements,” said Tyler Hummel, a member of the Music City Film Critics Association based in Nashville, Tennessee. “Many Christians I have met struggle to realize how poorly they’ve been received outside of Christian circles.”

In 2014, Mr. White made the first “God’s Not Dead” on a budget of $2 million. It ended up grossing $64.7 million at the box office.

That success stunned Hollywood and inspired a flurry of independent Christian films that allowed Mr. White, who co-founded Pure Flix Entertainment in 2005, to sell it to Sony Pictures in 2020.

The first four movies raked in an estimated $97,748,762 at the box office against a total budget of about $13 million. Such a large return on investment is rare in Hollywood, which often loses money on big studio movies with budgets running into the hundreds of millions.

At the same time, each “God’s Not Dead” sequel has struggled to match the viral success of the first movie.

“These movies do speak to widespread Christian fears that they’ve become marginalized in secular society, which was particularly astute in the early 2010s when Christian businesses were being sued regularly for declining to cater to gay weddings,” Mr. Hummel said. “However, these issues…come off as contrived and cartoonish as depicted on screen. There is a reason these movies are generally unpersuasive outside of evangelical circles.”

The original “God’s Not Dead” depicted a college freshman, played by Shane Harper, struggling with a philosophy professor’s challenge to write “God is dead” in his notebook or argue otherwise in front of the class.

Reverend Dave, Mr. White’s pastor character, played a supporting role in that movie as he advised the Christian student. He gradually became the franchise’s main character in the sequels, which tackle issues such as prayer in public schools.

As he runs for office in the upcoming fifth movie, Reverend Dave defends faith-based political organizing from accusations of Christian nationalism. He also sits for an interview with talk show host Mike Huckabee, a real-life Baptist minister and former Republican governor of Arkansas who appears in a cameo.

Film critic Christian Toto, host of the Hollywood in Toto Podcast, described the series as “unabashedly conservative and faith-friendly red meat for Red State USA.”

“If you know your audience and can keep costs down, it’s a smart formula for potential success,” said Mr. Toto, a former reporter for The Washington Times. “From a quality point of view, the storytelling is far too on-the-nose, but the films tackle real-world issues that are both important to large swaths of Americans and rarely addressed on screen.”

Sam Sorbo, who has produced and co-starred in several Christian films with her husband, actor Kevin Sorbo, said “God’s Not Dead” opened new doors for their careers.

She noted that Mr. Sorbo, the former star of television’s “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys,” has become an icon in Christian culture since playing the atheistic professor in the original film.

“Not only did it prove to Hollywood and the world that audiences crave uplifting, Christian entertainment, but it also provided that same audience with a sense of unity and cultural relevance,” Ms. Sorbo said.

The actress predicted the upcoming “God’s Not Dead: In God We Trust” will again appeal to that core audience. She pointed to its message that “we cannot separate our politics from our worldview” heading into November’s election.

According to Mr. White, it’s impossible to walk into a “God’s Not Dead” movie by accident. He says he’s counting on that.

”Each one lands, is culturally relevant and strikes a chord with people,” Mr. White said. “I think people going into it expect that Christian worldview.”