Pinnacle Peak Pictures (formerly Pure Flix Entertainment) is an American
evangelical
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual expe ...
Christian film
The Christian film industry is an aspect of Christian media for films containing a Christian-themed message or moral. They are often interdenominational films, but can also be films targeting a specific denomination of Christianity.
Criteria
Pop ...
production and
distribution Distribution may refer to:
Mathematics
* Distribution (mathematics), generalized functions used to formulate solutions of partial differential equations
*Probability distribution, the probability of a particular value or value range of a vari ...
studio founded by
David A. R. White and
Russell Wolfe. Pinnacle Peak produces
Christian films, including ''
God's Not Dead'' (2014), ''
Do You Believe?'' (2015), ''
Woodlawn'' (2015), ''
The Case for Christ
''The Case for Christ'' is a 2017 American Christian drama film directed by Jon Gunn and written by Brian Bird, based on a true story and inspired by the 1998 book of the same name by Lee Strobel. The film stars Mike Vogel, Erika Christensen, F ...
'' (2017), and ''
Unplanned'' (2019). Since 2014, films produced and distributed by Pure Flix have collectively grossed over $195 million at the worldwide box office. The company has headquarters in
Scottsdale, Arizona
, settlement_type = City
, named_for = Winfield Scott
, image_skyline =
, image_seal = Seal of Scottsdale (Arizona).svg
, image_blank_emblem = City of Scottsdale Script Logo.svg
, nic ...
.
History
Pinnacle Peak was founded in 2005 by
David A. R. White, Michael Scott,
Russell Wolfe,
Randy Travis
Randy Bruce Traywick (born May 4, 1959), known professionally as Randy Travis, is an American country music and gospel music singer, songwriter, guitarist, and actor.
Active from 1978 until being incapacitated by a stroke in 2013, he has recor ...
, and Elizabeth Travis as Pure Flix Entertainment
Since its foundation, the company has created many films, such as ''
The Wager'', ''
Home Beyond the Sun'', ''
In the Blink of an Eye'', ''
Sarah's Choice
''Sarah's Choice'' is a 2009 American direct-to-video Christian drama film directed by Chad Kapper. The film was the first lead film role for contemporary Christian singer-songwriter Rebecca St. James as the title character, along with Andrea ...
'', ''
A Greater Yes: The Story of Amy Newhouse'', ''
The Book of Ruth: Journey of Faith'', ''Holyman Undercover'', and ''
Samson
Samson (; , '' he, Šīmšōn, label= none'', "man of the sun") was the last of the judges of the ancient Israelites mentioned in the Book of Judges (chapters 13 to 16) and one of the last leaders who "judged" Israel before the institution o ...
''.
The company produced
''Jerusalem Countdown'' in 2011, with
10 West Studios
Harold David Cronk (born October 27, 1973) is an American writer, director and producer best known for his work in Christian films, and for being a founding partner in 10 West Studios and EMC Productions. Cronk won the Best Director award at t ...
. They also produced the first two seasons of
TBN's ''
Travel the Road''. ''
God's Not Dead'' (2014) starring
Kevin Sorbo
Kevin David Sorbo (born September 24, 1958) is an American actor. He had starring roles in two television series: as Hercules in '' Hercules: The Legendary Journeys'', and as Captain Dylan Hunt in '' Andromeda''. Sorbo is also known for actin ...
,
Shane Harper
Shane Steven Harper (born February 14, 1993) is an American actor, singer, and songwriter. He is known for playing Spencer on '' Good Luck Charlie'' as well as Josh Wheaton in the independent Christian film '' God's Not Dead''. His self-titled ...
, and
Dean Cain
Dean George Cain ( Tanaka; born July 31, 1966) is an American actor. From 1993 to 1997, he played Clark Kent / Superman in the TV series '' Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman''. Cain was the host of '' Ripley's Believe It or Not!'' a ...
earned over $60 million in the U.S. box office and was released in digital format by
Lionsgate
Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, doing business as Lionsgate, is a Canadian-American entertainment company. It was formed by Frank Giustra on July 10, 1997, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is currently headquartered ...
on August 5, 2014.
Since late 2015, Pinnacle Peak had its own theatrical distribution arm.
[ Retrieved November 2016] In late 2016, Pinnacle Peak announced a
homeschooling
Homeschooling or home schooling, also known as home education or elective home education (EHE), is the education of school-aged children at home or a variety of places other than a school. Usually conducted by a parent, tutor, or an onlin ...
curriculum for families with home-schooled children
and decided to allow their users to delete words such as "hell" and "damn" from their programming. The company has teamed up with the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference to supply further opportunities for
Hispanic
The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad.
The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties for ...
actors to improve the media representation of the Hispanic community.
In 2016, Pinnacle Peak announced that it has struck a long-term multi-year distribution deal with
Universal Pictures Home Entertainment
Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (formerly Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Universal Studios Home Video, MCA/Universal Home Video, MCA Home Video, MCA Videodisc and MCA Videocassette, Inc.) is the home video distribution division of Am ...
, which would officially manage the home media releases of every Pure Flix-produced film, starting with ''
Woodlawn''.
On November 12, 2020, Pure Flix announced that its eponymous streaming video service was being acquired by
Sony Pictures Entertainment
Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Sony Pictures or SPE, and formerly known as Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc.) is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio Conglomerate (company), conglom ...
, but that its production arm "Pure Flix Entertainment" is not part of the deal.
The deal was complete later that year, with Sony integrating Pure Flix streaming into its
Affirm Films
Affirm Films is an American Christian film studio and label of Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions, which produces, markets, and acquires faith-based films. The studio's highest-grossing faith-based dramas are '' Heaven is for Real'', '' Mira ...
banner. In January 2021, Pure Flix announced that following the sale of its eponymous streaming service to Sony, it had rebranded as Pinnacle Peak Pictures.
''God's Not Dead'' series
Their film ''
God's Not Dead'' was 2014's highest-grossing independent film and one of the most successful independent faith-based films of all time despite negative criticism. A second film, ''
God's Not Dead 2
''God's Not Dead 2'' is a 2016 American Christian drama film, directed by Harold Cronk, and starring Melissa Joan Hart, Jesse Metcalfe, David A. R. White, Hayley Orrantia and Sadie Robertson. It is a sequel to '' God's Not Dead'' (2014), and t ...
'' grossed over $1.4 million in Brazil and was considered by
Vox to be "moderately commercially successful". A third film, titled ''
God's Not Dead 3: A Light in Darkness'', was released on March 30, 2018. A fourth film, ''
God's Not Dead: We The People'', was released in October 2021. The Christian band
Newsboys
Newsboys (sometimes stylised as newsboys) are a Christian rock band founded in 1985 in Mooloolaba, Queensland, Australia, by Peter Furler and George Perdikis. Now based in Nashville, Tennessee, the band has released 17 studio albums, 6 of which ...
appear in and provide music for the first two films in the series.
Legalities related to the
Johnson Amendment
The Johnson Amendment is a provision in the U.S. tax code, since 1954, that prohibits all 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations from endorsing or opposing political candidates. Section 501(c)(3) organizations are the most common type of nonprofit or ...
were referenced in the second film.
Awards and nominations
Productions and distributions
Film
Television
* ''
Travel the Road'' (2003–present)
On-demand service
From 2015 up until 2020, Pinnacle Peak also had an
Internet
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, p ...
video on demand
Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of ...
service simply named Pure Flix.
The company was founded by
David A. R. White, replacing the streaming platform "I Am Flix". It specializes in
Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι� ...
streaming media
Streaming media is multimedia that is delivered and consumed in a continuous manner from a source, with little or no intermediate storage in network elements. ''Streaming'' refers to the delivery method of content, rather than the content i ...
and
video-on-demand
Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of ...
online.
Pure Flix was acquired by Sony Pictures in 2020.
Subsidiaries
Pinnacle Peak owns a subsidiary known as Quality Flix. Quality Flix works with international films, in contrast to Pinnacle Peak, which is primarily focused on distribution of films within the United States.
Controversies
In 2019, Pure Flix's
anti-abortion
Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life or abolitionist movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in respo ...
film ''
Unplanned'' attracted controversy in both mainstream and evangelical media. Some Christian commentators perceived the film as being unfairly censored after it received an
R rating from the
Motion Picture Association of America
The Motion Picture Association (MPA) is an American trade association representing the five major film studios of the United States, as well as the video streaming service Netflix. Founded in 1922 as the Motion Picture Producers and Distrib ...
and following a brief and subsequently rescinded suspension of the film's Twitter account. Michael Gryboski, writing for
''Christian Post'', criticized major Canadian film distributors (such as
Cineplex
A cineplex is a multiplex, a movie theatre with several screens, coming from the words cinema and complex.
Cineplex most commonly refers to:
* Cineplex Entertainment, a Canadian entertainment company based in Toronto, Ontario.
Cineplex may also ...
) refusal to screen the film in the country, calling it a "de facto ban". Film critic Normal Wilner countered that statement by accusing the distributors of employing disingenuous tactics to "manufacture a controversy", pointing out that the film was eventually shown in about 25 Cineplex and
Landmark
A landmark is a recognizable natural or artificial feature used for navigation, a feature that stands out from its near environment and is often visible from long distances.
In modern use, the term can also be applied to smaller structures or f ...
theaters in Canada and claiming nothing had prevented an earlier release. In turn, he pointed out Pure Flix's decision of deliberately choosing not to screen ''Unplanned'' for critics to avoid negative reviews. After its release, some criticized ''Unplanned'' for 'dangerous' inaccuracies.
Despite Pure Flix films generally being well-received by its evangelical Christian viewership, the company has also attracted criticism from several Christian commentators. Film critic Alissa Wilkinson, who wrote for ''
Christianity Today
''Christianity Today'' is an evangelical Christian media magazine founded in 1956 by Billy Graham. It is published by Christianity Today International based in Carol Stream, Illinois. ''The Washington Post'' calls ''Christianity Today'' "evan ...
'' and teaches at the Christian
King's College in New York City, criticized Pure Flix films for being intellectually unstimulating and reinforcing their audience's prejudices "instead of exercising and challenging the imagination of their audience in ways that would make their audience better Christians". She also criticized the studio's successful ''God's Not Dead'' trilogy for being "far more interested in bolstering a certain sort of persecution complex than in encouraging its audience toward Christlike behavior".
Justin Chang
Justin Choigee Chang (born January 3, 1983) is an American film critic and columnist for the ''Los Angeles Times''. He previously worked for ''Variety''.
Early life
Justin Chang graduated from the University of Southern California in 2004. Chan ...
, another film critic who identifies as Christian, likewise criticized Pure Flix's brand of faith-based films for what he perceived as their "self-victimizing" depiction of the evangelical Christian community. Kayla Bartsch, writing for ''
National Review
''National Review'' is an American conservative editorial magazine, focusing on news and commentary pieces on political, social, and cultural affairs. The magazine was founded by the author William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955. Its editor-in-chief ...
'', argued that Pure Flix's films "work to confirm the hypothesis that American Christianity must be artless and unrefined", making a case for more nuanced and stimulating religious films.
See also
*
Kingdom Story Company
References
External links
WebsitePure Flix*
IMDB
IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...
{{Authority control
2005 establishments in Arizona
American companies established in 2005
American film studios
Christian film production companies
Companies based in Scottsdale, Arizona
Conservative media in the United States
Film production companies of the United States
Homeschooling advocates
Mass media companies established in 2005
Television production companies of the United States