{"id":6198,"date":"2017-03-28T07:56:26","date_gmt":"2017-03-28T12:56:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/?p=6198"},"modified":"2017-03-21T15:07:51","modified_gmt":"2017-03-21T20:07:51","slug":"april-2-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/april-2-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"April 2, 2017–Second Chance"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jen Krausz–Bethlehem, PA<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Warm-up Question<\/strong><\/p>\n

What is appealing about fantasy books and movies (or for younger kids, fairy tales)?<\/p>\n

Second Chance
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Disney\u2019s live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast<\/em> has surpassed<\/a> last year\u2019s Finding Dory<\/em>, which earned $135 million, to take in $170 million in the U.S. on its opening<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Two models isolated on a black background. Blonde woman holding hands of a beast<\/p><\/div>\n

weekend, making it the top-grossing G- or PG-rated movie opener ever. The movie broke other box office records as well, becoming the highest opening for a movie so far in 2017 and the best March release ever. It is also the seventh top-grossing opening weekend for a movie of all time.<\/p>\n

Disney has made several of its animated classics into live-action movies in recent years, including Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, Maleficent, <\/em>and \u201cThe Jungle Book. <\/em>Upcoming planned releases include Dumbo, Mulan, The Lion King, <\/em>and Aladdin,<\/em> among others.<\/p>\n

\u201cNostalgia is a very powerful driver for these films,\u201d Disney head of distribution Dave Hollis said. \u201cWhat\u2019s exciting here is there is an opportunity to see these beloved stories in a way that\u2019s never been seen before, but you get to build that on the foundation of something that\u2019s very familiar.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut you don\u2019t get to $170 million because of nostalgia,\u201d Hollis added. \u201cYou have to ultimately make these movies great.\u201d In addition to the record-breaking domestic release, the movie also made another $180 million around the world, and is expected to top $1 billion globally by the end of its run.<\/p>\n

The movie featured songs from the original and starred Emma Watson as Belle. It beat out Kong: Skull Island, Logan, Get Out, and The Shack<\/em>, all of which had debuted in previous weeks. The film follows the story of Belle, an independent, literate woman (who in this version is also an inventor), as she tries to protect her father from the Beast, who she doesn\u2019t know is a prince, cursed by a witch for not being kind to her.<\/p>\n

Discussion Questions<\/strong><\/p>\n