Jennifer Garner has signed on to star in Miracles From Heaven, another faith-based film from Heaven Is For Real producers Joe Roth, Devon Franklin, and T.D. Jakes. Heaven Is For Real has helped usher in a new era of mainstream faith-based movies, including God’s Not Dead, Moms’ Night Out, and the Left Behind reboot, reinforcing the biblical adage that people don’t care what critics say when they agree with a movie’s message.
Based on the novel by Christy Beam, Miracles From Heaven follows a young girl with a rare digestive disorder who is miraculously cured after a terrible accident. Randy Brown (Trouble With The Curve) is writing the script that will hopefully explain where else miracles could possibly come from, and Patricia Riggen, who helmed Lemonade Mouth for the Disney Channel, will direct.
Miracles isn’t the only upcoming film concerned with faith, as Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s Pearl Street production company is edging into the market with the Hugh Jackman-starring Apostle Paul. But given the producers’ reputations, there’s some question about whether that one will take the Heaven Is For Real route and tell Christian audiences stuff they already believe or go the way of Darren Aronofsky’s Noah, which told them something about rock giants and Russell Crowe trying to kill a baby. Either way, cinemas will get a healthy dose of the former strategy soon enough, as Miracles From Heaven goes into production this summer.