Religion

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — On Sept. 2, up to 750 pastors and church workers are expected to crowd into the sanctuary at Calvary Church in south Charlotte, N.C. — some of them driving in from as far as 60 miles away.

They're coming not to sing, pray or hear sermons, but to watch a movie.

Billy: The Early Years — the new feature film about Charlotte-born Billy Graham — won't hit theaters until Oct. 10. But the movie's producers, based in California and England, are hoping to build some buzz in the coming weeks by holding more than 50 such sneak peeks for evangelical "opinion makers" across the Bible Belt.

Good reviews from critics are nice, but the thumbs-up producers of Christian films want most these days are from pastors urging their flocks to head for the theater.

Billy: The Early Years is set to open Oct. 10 in theaters in 13 North and South Carolina cities. To accommodate towns where it's not scheduled to open, producers are inviting churches in those places to rent a nearby theater to show it.

In recent years, word of mouth from the pulpit has helped turn films such as The Passion of the Christ, Facing the Giants and The Chronicles of Narnia into must-see hits for evangelicals who often shun Hollywood fare for its risque and violent content.

"Today, Christian filmmakers can count on a very savvy pastoral community that's looking to highlight films like these to their congregations," says Doug Phillips, founder of the Christian Filmmakers Academy and the 5-year-old San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival.

Producers of Billy: The Early Years, which cost $6 million to make, aren't relying just on pastors to help them sell tickets.

There's the soundtrack CD, which will feature some big names in country and Christian music — Brooks & Dunn, Alan Jackson, Michael W. Smith and deep-voiced Josh Turner, who will also play veteran Graham Crusade soloist George Beverly Shea in the movie. A single from the film, sung by Sara Evans, should turn up on the radio in September. The soundtrack will come out in October.

A "novelization" of the film, which includes scenes of a teen-age Graham accepting Christ at a 1934 tent-like revival in Charlotte, will arrive in bookstores, also in October.

Up now: A Web site — www.billytheearlyyears.com — that offers a trailer and film clips.

Finally, producers are busily trying to get the blessings of Billy Graham and his family, including son Franklin, who was publicly peeved that he and the family, ever-protective of the elder Graham's legacy, were never shown a script before the movie was made.

A spokesman for Billy Graham, who's now 89, in frail health and living in Montreat, said he has not yet seen it.

Producer Larry Mortorff says copies of the finished film were delivered to Franklin Graham and the family. Franklin Graham has seen it, his spokesman said, but has been too busy traveling lately to comment.

"We hope what we've done is pleasing to him," says Mortorff. "It's a homage to his dad."