Daniel C. Peterson's Blog, page 171

Joseph, the stone and the hat: Why they all matter

    ***   As you can see from the illustration above, the Interpreter Foundation’s film Witnesses ranked at Number Six on Box Office Mojo for Tuesday, 8 June 2021.  Of course, in the interest of full disclosure it has to be frankly admitted that the box office receipts for Witnesses come in at slightly […]

“Joseph Lied”

    ***   Although it was never a sure thing, it now seems that Witnesses will be available in all of the theaters this coming weekend where it was available on its opening weekend.  In fact, we have added three new theaters  to our list (in Moses Lake, Washington; Las Vegas, Nevada; and Tooele, […]

In which I channel my inner Antaeus

    ***   First, go out and see Witnesses if you haven’t already.  And if you have already seen it, go see it again.  Preferably with extended family, neighbors, and friends in tow.   ***   Until 2020, so far as I can recall, there has been only one full calendar year in which […]

Little Known Facts About Church History: Lucy Mack Smith and Chinese Take-Out

    ***   First, though:  This article, by Professor S. Kent Brown, was just published in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship:   “Jesus’ First Visit to the Temple” Abstract: In this rich and detailed description, S. Kent Brown paints an evocative, historically contextualized account of Jesus Christ’s first visit to the Jerusalem […]

How is “Witnesses” doing thus far?

    ***   How is Witnesses doing thus far?  Truth be told, we don’t really know for certain.  Hard numbers haven’t yet arrived via reliable channels.  But here is something that you might find interesting, from something called Deadline, also known as Deadline Hollywood, an online news site that is focused on the  entertainment industry and […]

“They Shall Not Grow Old”

      ***   Yesterday, during the opening weekend of the Interpreter Foundation’s Witnesses film, the widow of my late friend, partner, and colleague Dr. William J. Hamblin called my attention to a presentation on the Witnesses that he posted back at the end of 2011.  I honestly don’t think that I had ever […]

See the Movie that Enemies of the Church Don’t Want You to See!

    ***   In my immediately previous post, I observed that the Interpreter Foundation’s Witnesses film is being “review bombed” over on the “Rotten Tomatoes” site by critics who have been giving it the lowest possible score — a half-star — on the RT five-star scale in order to depress its audience rating.  A […]

Honestly, we need your help

    I sent the following note out on Facebook earlier today.  As of yet, I think it’s had pretty limited impact, at best.  And, although that may be as much as I can realistically hope for, I still hope for more:   For many years, I’ve noticed on Amazon.com that books about “Mormonism” and/or […]

“Discipleship As the World Collapses Around You”

    ***   I feel that I should reinforce the point that I’ve made on several occasions, here and elsewhere, about the effect that a successful opening weekend in theaters can have on the entire life of a film.   Here are some things to consider (and there may well be other important ideas […]

On Martin Harris: “Native honesty” and Life-Long Testimony

    ***   The premiere for the Interpreter Foundation’s Witnesses film went well last night, I think — except for a problem with the main theater’s projector with which our filmmakers had to struggle for about an hour.  (The projector apparently hadn’t been functioning properly during its showings of Cruella last week, either.). It […]