World Wide Pictures (WWP) was a

film distributor A film distributor is a person responsible for the marketing of a film. The distribution company may be the same as, or different from, the production company. Distribution deals are an important part of financing a film. The distributor may set ...

and

production company A production company, production house or production studio is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television show, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, and video ...

established as a

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company (law), company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidia ...

of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) in 1951. It is involved in the production and distribution of evangelistic

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

s, the production of Graham crusade films, and publicity for Graham crusades.

History

WWP was established in 1951 after Graham met Dick Ross, who had produced a

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

of Graham's 1950 crusade in

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

. That film's success led the BGEA to buy Ross's production company and hire him as the president of a new BGEA subsidiary incorporated as the ''Billy Graham Evangelistic Film Ministry'' (which was to be WWP's official name until 1980). WWP's first

feature film A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film (Film, motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole present ...

was '' Mr. Texas'', produced during Graham's 1951

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...

Crusade. It was also during the 1950s that WWP established production facilities in

Burbank, California Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank had a Census-estimated population of 102,755 as of 2023. The city was ...

. Perhaps WWP's best-known production was the 1965 film ''The Restless Ones'', featuring Kim Darby. It was the first theatrical movie. According to an October 14, 1966, issue of ''

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'' "eva ...

'' more than 120,000 professions of faith were recorded after more than two million people viewed the film. Other feature films included '' Two a Penny'' (also 1965), which starred

Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is a British singer and actor. He has total sales of over 21.5 million singles in the United Kingdom and, as of 2012, was the third-top-selling artist in UK Singles Chart histo ...

. Both '' The Hiding Place'' (1975, with Julie Harris) and ''Time to Run'' (1973) received Golden Globe nominations for Most Promising Newcomer. WWP stopped national releases of its films in the late 1980s. The company sold its Burbank studio, moved its headquarters to Minneapolis, and switched to working with independent producers and distributing films to churches, on home video, and as made-for-TV movies. They cautiously returned to feature films in 2001 with the limited national release of '' Road to Redemption'', WWP's first comedy after over 125 films. The film starred Pat Hingle, Julie Condra, Leo Rossi, Jay Underwood, Tony Longo, and Wes Studi. It was followed by '' The Climb'', which starred Jason Winston George, Ned Vaughn, and Dabney Coleman, and featured Todd Bridges. In 2003, the company released ''Last Flight Out''.

References

External links

World Wide Pictures
{{Billy Graham Film distributors of the United States Film production companies of the United States Evangelical parachurch organizations Companies based in Minneapolis Evangelical Christian film production companies Billy Graham

History

See also

References

Further reading

External links