Keeping the faith with Lee Strobel
September 18, 2007

Lionsgate kicked off their three-DVD distribution deal with for documentaries based upon the books of  leading Christian non-fiction author Lee Strobel with last week’s release of The Case for Christ ($19.95 srp). As of this writing one week later, the DVD is ranked #5 on the Amazon Top Documentary sellers list.

“The video format is the future for investigating issues of faith,” Strobel told me today. “This next generation is so attuned to video, much more than myself and my generation.”

The two other Strobel titles that are included in the Lionsgate deal are The Case for Faith, which is currently in production, and The Case for a Creator, which is already in the can but has not yet been slated for release. It was the spark of Creator that ignited Strobel’s deal with Lionsgate.

“Illustra Media produced The Case for a Creator first, and when Lionsgate saw it, they just flipped,” Strobel remembered. “We were really surprised at their enthusiasm for the film. Well, we made a deal for three films and decided to release The Case for Christ first, as it was my biggest-selling book.”

The Case for Christ DVD offers more than an hour or supplemental material, including multiple featurettes, musical excerpts and a collection of study resources that compliment the film’s material. What’s most notable about this, though, is that the feature proper runs only 71 minutes.

“Lionsgate was very encouraging about including all the bonuses, many of which we created as we went along,” said Strobel. “There were instances where we decided to go deeper into theological issue in the supplements, rather than bog it down in the actual film. That enabled us to keep the film leaner and quicker.”

Posted by Laurence Lerman on September 18, 2007 | Comments (0)