The last twelve months were pretty rough for me — including an unexpected death in the family and some badly needed surgery — and both my blogging and my moviegoing suffered as a result. But blog I did, and the holidays haven’t quite come to an end yet, so I am going to take a slightly belated look at the most-read posts from the past year.
As in 2015 and 2016, there are two lists: one of the most-read posts from the entire blog, and another of the most-read posts that were written during the year in question.
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The 10 most-viewed posts in 2017, regardless of when they were written:
1. History and tradition in movie depictions of the cross (April 2013)
People keep checking this one out, and I didn’t even add any new images to it this year!
2. The death, resurrection, and second death of Lazarus (June 2013)
I still have no idea why this post, on a relatively obscure topic, is so popular.
3. Exclusive: The Shack co-star Aviv Alush on being the first Israeli actor to play Jesus in an English-language movie (March 2017)
I’m really glad I was able to note this landmark bit of casting. Here’s hoping we’ll see another film follow this one’s lead in a story that is set in the first century!
4. Exclusive: The Case for Christ author Lee Strobel on facts and feelings, and seeing your life turned into a movie (April 2017)
Strobel’s conversion story was the basis for a better-than-average “faith-based” film.
5. X-Men: Apocalypse and the legend of Nimrod’s arrows (May 2016)
I’m always happy to note the overlap between Bible movies and superhero movies.
6. The Passion of the Christ is back — and dubbed in English? (February 2017)
I have still not seen this version of the film, which came out on Blu-Ray this year.
7. Box office: The Shack has one of the biggest openings ever for a “faith-based” film (March 2017)
The Shack is now the 3rd-highest-grossing “faith-based” film globally, behind The Passion of the Christ and Heaven Is for Real (and it is well ahead of the latter film overseas).
8. New movie about Samson now shooting in South Africa (April 2017)
And it’s coming to North American theatres next month. A new trailer popped today, in fact.
9. Pride & Prejudice: two versions! (November 2005)
I assume interest in this post, which is now over a dozen years old, still has something to do with Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which came out last year.
10. Watch: Four new clips from The Shack tap into the movie’s theological themes (February 2017)
The film version of The Shack was a big deal this year, as you can see.
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The 10 most-viewed posts that were actually written in 2017:
1. Exclusive: The Shack co-star Aviv Alush on being the first Israeli actor to play Jesus in an English-language movie (March 2017)
See the top 10 list above.
2. Exclusive: The Case for Christ author Lee Strobel on facts and feelings, and seeing your life turned into a movie (April 2017)
See the top 10 list above.
3. The Passion of the Christ is back — and dubbed in English? (February 2017)
See the top 10 list above.
4. Box office: The Shack has one of the biggest openings ever for a “faith-based” film (March 2017)
See the top 10 list above.
5. New movie about Samson now shooting in South Africa (April 2017)
See the top 10 list above.
6. Watch: Four new clips from The Shack tap into the movie’s theological themes (February 2017)
See the top 10 list above.
7. Exclusive: Watch the trailer for Becoming Truly Human, a documentary about the religiously unaffiliated (July 2017)
I also interviewed the director when the film came out a month later.
8. Jim Caviezel returns to the Bible-movie genre in Paul, Apostle of Christ (September 2017)
For me, this is one of the more intriguing-looking Bible films coming out in 2018.
9. Box office: The Case for Christ cracks the top ten
The film version of Lee Strobel’s book was moderately successful for a “faith-based” film.
10. Watch: Eight clips from The Gospel of Mark, which comes to DVD and Digital HD next week (March 2017)
Alas, I still have to write my review of this installment in The Lumo Project.
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And that about sums it up. Here’s hoping next year turns out a bit smoother.
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