Texas megachurch putting its faith in Hollywood blockbuster Son of God

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The Telegraph's Peter Foster visits the 16,000-seat Lakewood mega-church in Houston, Texas, as the congregation flock to see Son of God, a new Hollywood film about the life of Jesus. • Exactly 10 years after a grassroots movement saw Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ unexpectedly storm the US box office charts, Christian groups across America are hoping to achieve the same feat for a new Hollywood biopic of Jesus Christ. • The 16,000-seat Lakewood mega-church in Houston, Texas was among those handing out free tickets to members who queued up after midweek church services to get one of the nearly 9,000 free passes paid for by an anonymous donor. • Perhaps unsurprisingly, church members gave Son of God an ecstatic 'thumbs up'. • I felt like Niagara Falls, I couldn't stop crying , one audience member said, another adding, to know that in 2014 Jesus is on the big screen is a big deal, because we have so many different themes that are against Jesus right now. So it's awesome . • Industry predictions say it is unlikely that Son of God can match The Passion of the Christ which took more than $83m in its first weekend, thanks a ground-up marketing campaign launched by Mel Gibson after he failed to find a big name distributor. • However the commercial power of faith-based audiences is now well-recognized in Hollywood, with two big-budget biblical films -- Noah, starring Russell Crowe and Moses, starring Christian Bale -- also due to be released by the end of this year. • • Get the latest headlines http://www.telegraph.co.uk/ • Subscribe to The Telegraph http://www.youtube.com/subscription_c... • Like us on Facebook / telegraph.co.uk • Follow us on Twitter / telegraph • Follow us on Google+ https://plus.google.com/1028913550727... • Telegraph.co.uk and / telegraphtv are websites of The Daily Telegraph, the UK's best-selling quality daily newspaper providing news and analysis on UK and world events, business, sport, lifestyle and culture.

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