The Scriptures come alive in the CD-ROM Ilumina (left) while The Wemmicks appears on niche cable and satellite systems. © Visual Book Productions, Inc. (left) and © Tommy Nelson.

This autumn has produced a bumper crop of animated properties with religious themes, many from animation companies new to the Christian market. While the new players see commercial potential, they are often primarily interested in creating animation that reflects their beliefs.

Cartoon Pizza, producer of Stanley and PB& J Otter, introduced Hoop Dogz, a video series based on the Ten Commandments, and has other faith-based properties in the works. “We couldn’t afford to spend our time and sizable investment on this unless there was a chance for success,” says David Campbell, ceo/co-founder, with Jim Jinkins, of Cartoon Pizza. “On the other hand, it’s dicey,” he adds, noting that few people have been able to establish faith-based franchises.

In addition to Hoop Dogz, new properties include The GodMan, a 48-minute photorealistic-style video/DVD financed by The Book of Hope International, produced by freelance writer/producer Jeff Holder and animated by 3DBob Productions; The Hugglers, a 3D/live-action preschool property from Reel Inspired Entertainment (a company formed by the owners of work-for-hire studio Keyframe Digital Productions), released by Crash Kidz and distributed by Sony Red; and The Animated Adventure Bible, a 12-half-hour 3D-animated production from The Kids Bible Company of Australia.

Jim Jinkins (left) and David Campbell of Cartoon Pizza know the benefits and risks in producing religious programming. Photo courtesy of Sarah Baisley.

While many content providers have tried to emulate the success of Big Idea’s VeggieTales series, with limited results, executives now believe the market is poised for growth, in part because parents are looking for family-friendly programming. “There’s some good moral stuff out there, but there’s also an incredible diet of blow-`em-up stuff, especially for boys,” says Brian Stewart, director of Car Angel, a Christian nonprofit that’s producing its first children’s animation, a DVD series that takes place in Biblical times and stars a donkey and his brothers.

“There’s a hunger in [the Christian] marketplace” for high-quality animation, explains Bob Arvin, president of 3DBob. “It’s not like Christians don’t watch TV.”

“Watching an animation of [a Bible] story brings you a whole new experience,” says Nelson Saba, ceo of Visual Book Productions, which produces Ilumina, a CD-ROM that includes animated Bible stories, among several other features. “What they are watching is scripture. It gives a lot of depth to the storytelling and makes it very interesting and captivating.” So far 37 out of a possible 300 Biblical stories have been animated for this digital Bible. Many producers credit the current interest in faith-based properties to Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ. “Mel and his little film really helped make the world see that Christians have the money to spend,” says Angela Costello, director of animation and creative services for the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN). “They’re seeing that maybe the VeggieTales thing wasn’t a fluke.”