Maybe God’s Not Dead, but he’ll probably wish he were when he learns about this lawsuit against the producers of the hokey franchise. According to The Wrap, Pure Flix Entertainment and co-founder David A.R. White are being sued for violating the eighth commandment, which The Simpsons or maybe Sunday school (and the New King James Bible) should have taught them is “Thou shalt not steal.” Screenwriters Kelly Monroe Kullberg and Michael Landon Jr. filed their suit on Monday, in which they claim that Pure Flix and White stole the premise for God’s Not Dead ’s from their screenplay for the unreleased film, Rise.
They are suing for 100 million dollars. 100 million. This pedestrian, boring meme of a story is barely worth one.
According to the complaint, “Rise” tells the story “of a freshman at Harvard facing an environment hostile to her Christian faith.” [T]he student then debates her professor three times on whether God exists.
The complaint notes numerous alleged similarities, stating, “The theme, set-up, opportunity, turning point, change of plans, complications, set back, final push, climax and aftermath of the ‘Rise’ screenplay and the ‘God’s Not Dead’ motion picture are the same.” [TheWrap]
I suppose Kullberg feels like she has a case on account of actually being a prominent Christian who went to Harvard, but that doesn’t change the fact that God’s Not Dead was essentially torn from the Marine Todd meme, which any shrewd idiot with a tolerance for tedium and an email account could’ve turned into a movie. I still want to see the Luke O’Neil version.
Interestingly, Kullberg and Landon are suing for $100 million, “a portion of God’s Not Dead‘s $140 million worldwide.”
Meanwhile, God’s Not Dead‘s lifetime international revenue is $62.63 million, according to BoxOfficeMojo. The only source for that $140 million number I can find is a Fox News interview with Kevin Sorbo. True, he says that includes DVD sales, but $80 million worth is a lot of DVDs.
Oh man, am I ever impressed with anyone who actually sat through this movie. I couldn’t even manage the whole trailer, I only made it to 1:48. I was afraid I might actually die of a fatal eyeroll. Worth 100 million? No way on earth. Or heaven. Or hell.
Hey! Suing is totally not stealing! It’s totally legal!
(Which makes me wonder, how are the Ten Commandments any legal basis for a suit…?)
I just cannot get over the amount they are asking for -- a hundred million? For one of the tiredest, stupidest, canards going. I remember PZ going to the theater and actually sitting through that piece of dreck, and I hand him all the credit, and everyone else who managed to sit through it. That ‘movie’ is one giant eyeroll.
Xians fighting xians.
Each cult will title its followers “to ensure we have the funds available for what is right” whilst, mysteriously, nothing much happens and the suit eventually vanishes. As do most of the tithes. Which they will continue to insist upon.
I wonder how many sequels it will get. :P
rq:
God’s Not Dead 2 came out a short while back. I’m pretty sure PZ covered that one too. Yep, May 1st.
https://proxy.freethought.online/pharyngula/2016/05/01/the-message-of-gods-not-dead-2-is/