[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
The Future, a podcast about evolution and intelligent Design.
[00:00:11] Speaker B: Welcome to ID the Future. I'm your host, Andrew McDermott. Hey, I'm wondering, have you seen the new movie the Story of Everything? It's a cinematic exploration of the cosmos that reveals the hidden hand behind our universe.
From the precise laws that govern the stars to the intricate structures found in every living cell, the film traces evidence of intentional design throughout nature. It's based on Dr. Stephen Meyer's 2021 book, Return of the God Hypothesis. It's had a great run in theater so far and there are now new ways that you can enjoy the film with friends, family and groups. So I recently caught up with my friend and colleague Dr. Stephen Meyer to ask him a few questions about how the story of Everything has been doing has been received and the exciting new ways that people can enjoy the film. Here's that exchange now.
[00:01:03] Speaker C: Steve, it's great to have you here for a quick update on this amazing movie, the Story of Everything. I'm not sure if our viewers have seen it yet. It was in the theaters and now it's available for streaming. So I just wanted to ask you a few questions about it. First, what was it like watching this movie finally on the big screen?
[00:01:20] Speaker A: Well, it was kind of fun to go see not only my own mug on the screen, it's always a little startling, but to see all my colleagues who contributed so beautifully to the story that was told in the Story of Everything.
[00:01:33] Speaker C: Yeah, what an ensemble of scientists and scholars along with you for the journey and the visuals. I mean, what a stunning feast of visuals it was. And I understand that you worked very carefully with the film team to just really get each visual just right. And what did you think of the cutting edge animation?
[00:01:50] Speaker A: Well, that was one of the things that we heard a lot about was the stunning visuals. But also the visuals were very accurate scientifically. So there was a great interplay between artistic sense and scientific accuracy and concern to get that right.
The wonderful thing was seeing the film on the big screen.
I'd been giving feedback based on seeing little snippets on my iPhone and then to see it in that eye popping way on the big screen was fantastic. But we've also been able to see it on a large television screen at home and it's pretty spectacular on that aspect ratio as well.
[00:02:31] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. I was just amazed. And I enjoyed the fact that I could take family and friends and even my kids who are middle, school, you know, age, and they got excited about it. They grasped a lot of the concepts. Once they could see it on.
[00:02:45] Speaker A: I got emails from people around the country telling about the reaction that people had in the theaters. Very oftentimes people sat quietly while the credits were rolling for some time and then had long thoughtful conversations with each other. But one email I got from someone I think was in Atlanta said that their 12 year old had declared it their all time favorite video, really. So I think it was connecting with people across the ages. We also got an email from a 70 year old man who had been, who was a physicist, who had been a lifelong agnostic, who walked out of the theater having had an epiphany and realizing that God must exist after all.
Another gentleman here in the Seattle area, his older brother is suffering from Parkinson's and has been really closed to the idea of any kind of religious belief. And the younger brother took the older brother to see the film.
They didn't leave the theater for 45 minutes, sat where they had seen it, the credits, rolled in the dark and had a really deep spiritual conversation that apparently had been long in coming. And the brother who was suffering from Parkinson's, parents broke down in tears, sensing that perhaps there was someone who cared after all. So very touching.
[00:04:05] Speaker C: What a beautiful place actually to have such a moment, you know, in a darkened theater after you've been able to see the evidence on the big screen and then you're just left in the quietness, you know, it's a beautiful time to reflect.
So the movie had a successful first week, right? And that's all we were guaranteed. But there was actually more, right?
[00:04:23] Speaker A: Well, right after the first week when we were in Washington D.C.
for the national premiere there, we had a national premiere in Dallas, one in Washington D.C. very successful premiere here in Seattle as well. So we had different people who had been part of the film at these different premieres answering questions afterwards, and that made it fun. But in dc, while we were on the stage with the nationally known talk show host Hugh Hewitt, who emceed the event in D.C.
our senior producer, Brian Bird received a text announcing that the film was going to be in theaters for at least another week. And it turned out that we not only got another week, but then we were extended a week beyond that. So that by far exceeded our expectations and because of the success it had at the box office, very good numbers. We got a streaming deal with Amazon prime very, very soon after. So that's already just come out this week.
So it's available.
The film is available for purchase for streaming at home on Amazon Prime Video, which was a great placement for Us and there'll be a couple other streaming platforms that'll be taking it up later this summer as well. So it's going to be widely available and we think the interest in it continues very strong. Last night I was two hours on coast to coast talking about it in the middle of the night. I did four interviews about the film yesterday and a couple more today. So there's plenty of interest still. And in fact, in a way, we think it's growing. I think far more people will see it in home video or in their schools or churches or colleges, which is another option for seeing it through a group called the Faith Content Network where you can actually book the film to be shown as a group event in your church, civic or collegiate or scholastic environment.
And there's a group called the Faith Content Network that will arrange that for you. And the film can be licensed for those special group events.
[00:06:29] Speaker C: See, and that's awesome that it's coming out in phases.
Fathom events, they come and go. I've seen just one night only sometimes. But not only did this get a whole week, it got the second and third weeks, allowed more people to see it in theaters. But now we're moving.
[00:06:44] Speaker A: I personally know Andrew, this is the longest running Fathom distributed film.
There was a version of the Chosen that they took out as a week long release. And so the seven nights that we got, we were told was as long as anything else they'd done.
And that we essentially tied the seven night release that they'd given for the Chosen. But then we were extended for two weeks based on a strong box office. So we had a very high ratio of dollars per theater. We didn't go out on a vast number of theaters, but people turned out and the audience sizes were pretty good in the theaters on a night by night basis. So that was pretty exciting. And as I said, we did a couple of events where principals in the film turned up and answered questions afterwards. I did it two or three nights in our local Bella Bottega Theater in Redmond, Washington. And some people, it had been pre announced in a few places in a classical high school.
Our own kids had gone to school. So some people came because they knew there was going to be a Q and A afterwards. But some people in the theater of course didn't. So they were rather shocked to see me emerge from the shadows to the front of the theaters. The credits were, were rolling to offer a discussion and we had some very good discussions afterwards.
[00:08:06] Speaker C: Dr. Meyer, in the flesh.
[00:08:07] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
[00:08:09] Speaker C: And I understand you.
[00:08:10] Speaker A: I got my 15 minutes of fame, you know. Yeah.
[00:08:13] Speaker C: Well deserved. And it's taken years to get to this point where we could release the movie, but what a spectacular effort. And I understand that you had even some red carpet showings, right? You got to dress up in a tuxedo.
[00:08:26] Speaker A: Yeah, I learned a new term. It was called a step and repeat.
This is the setup they have with the banner and the red carpet. You step up, get your picture taken, and then new people come up and get their picture taken with you. So that's, I guess, the source of the repeat idea.
[00:08:42] Speaker C: Okay. All right.
[00:08:43] Speaker A: So I should mention, Andrew, that one of the things that's most exciting to me is that we've had a number of campus groups come to us and say, look, we are very interested in using this film and taking it out internationally on campuses all around the world. And we've got, you know, as you know, we have many of our scientists give talks on campuses. So both the trailer, the super trailer, and the film itself will be assets that will be used on college campuses in particular, for many years to come. In addition to the international theatrical release, the streaming release, which has just started with Amazon prime and will continue on other platforms on later in the summer. And then this distribution option I mentioned through a group called the Faith Content Network that takes out faith friendly films and shares them with churches, schools, colleges, and the like so that those groups can have special group experiences around the film that this group will license to them. So if some of our viewers are interested in doing that in a church or synagogue or civic organization or a high school or college, this is a way to extend the reach of the film. And all those entities can effectively function as theaters.
So it's an exciting option.
Supporters should get in touch if they want to know more about that, and Andrew knows how to direct them to the right person.
[00:10:15] Speaker C: Yes, yes.
[00:10:16] Speaker A: The company called Kolide that helped us promote the film.
[00:10:20] Speaker C: Yeah, Anyone who's interested in that aspect, we can get information to them. So. So families can watch it in home at this point.
[00:10:28] Speaker A: Right.
[00:10:29] Speaker C: They can invite people over, start conversations. But as you said, you know, we can also have it hosted in churches, synagogues, and other organizations who have a space and they want to license a showing. So in effect, we're. We're extending that theatrical run by bringing it into homes and other spaces.
[00:10:49] Speaker A: Well, the way the data is now compiled, if the film is shown in a group setting in an organization like a church, synagogue, school, college campus, study center, whatever it is, the revenue from that counts towards our ultimate box office. Right now the film is already ranked number 14 all time in, in box office for faith friendly films.
I should mention we have resisted the label of faith based film. It's not a faith based film.
It's a science based film that happens to be faith affirming. But in the space of faith friendly films, we're currently ranked 14th out of I think 115 or something. Totally films that have gone out into theaters and the revenue that keeps coming in from these showings accrues to our total. And we have our sights set on number 10 getting in the top 10. So anyway, it's been a success by any measure. In addition, I think we found that the ratings on the, what is it, the Rotten Tomatoes site, which is the go to site for people that are that follow current films, we have a 92% approval rating or what they call the popcorn rating, which apparently is extremely good. And we were well ahead of Meryl Streep during the time we were both in theaters and well ahead of the Animal Farm film as well. So this is. It was. Not only did we do well quantitatively with the box office numbers, I think we had good evidence that people very much appreciated the, the film as an artistic and scientific achievement.
[00:12:39] Speaker C: Yeah, that's wonderful. So, couple of options now. We can watch it at home, we can watch it in a shared space at a church, synagogue.
But this is one of those where there's also a book available. Right, because it was based on your book.
[00:12:52] Speaker A: Well, the film is, in a way, if you want to take a deeper dive into the science that was discussed in the film and the story of the discoveries that discussed in the film. The book Return of the God Hypothesis is the source document for the film. Although I should mention that we had so many scientists in the film who helped tell the story and they have their own books. Michael Behe was featured and we talked about his work on molecular machines, which goes back to his groundbreaking book Darwin's Black Box. Douglas Axe was featured in the film. His book Undeniable was a source of many of the comments that he made.
And so I think there were five or six people in the film who also had important books that we drew on. Luke Barnes in his book the Fortunate Universe. Jay Richards in his book with Guillermo Gonzales, the Privileged Planet. So the film in a sense synthesized, I think it's fair to say, 30 years of work advancing the case for intelligent design, advancing the cosmological and fine tuning arguments as well as the biological design argument. So all that was pulled together in a beautifully synthetic way. I think it's part of the reason it took four and a half years to produce the film. But I think the final product made the effort worthwhile.
[00:14:07] Speaker C: Yeah. Well, now is the time to see it. If you didn't catch it in theaters again, it's now available on Amazon Prime Video for purchase. So that's an opportunity to watch it at home, bring some friends over. And then it's also available in your shared spaces like churches, synagogues and campus groups, anywhere where you can gather some folks together. You can license a showing and just start conversations there as well. And of course, it's based on the book. So Return of the God Hypothesis is the name of that book that Dr. Meyer has written and that's available as well. Just a richness of resources around this film that you can jump into after enjoying it. Well, Steve, I really appreciate this update. I know it was spur of the moment.
You're in a busy time right now
[00:14:50] Speaker A: as you just, you know, we're a tie coming into the office, so we got this done. Andrew. Yeah, yeah.
[00:14:55] Speaker C: So I appreciate your time.
[00:14:57] Speaker A: I appreciate it. And asking about the film. And we appreciate the inference, sorry, the interest of our wonderful supporters who were. Who came out in big numbers too, that was part of the success of the film. So we thank you all for that. And if you have had a hankering to watch it a second time, and many people have, because the film is so rich and in some ways it's rich in a densely scientific way that does merit a second or third watch sometimes for many people.
[00:15:26] Speaker C: Absolutely. I think I watched it three times in the theater, but I'm ready for more. So I'm going to host a group soon as well, just because there's so much to unpack. Yeah.
[00:15:35] Speaker A: Excellent.
[00:15:35] Speaker C: All right, thanks, Steve.
[00:15:36] Speaker A: Thanks for having me.
[00:15:38] Speaker B: That was Dr. Stephen Meyer taking a few minutes out of his really busy schedule to give us an update on the story of everything.
As you just heard, the movie is now available for purchase on Amazon Prime Video. And there's also an opportunity to bring the film to your church, synagogue, study center or other community group through a licensed screening. This whole summer we're doing this. So here is where you can go to find information on these opportunities.
First, you can learn about the film, including the talented cast and crew by visiting the film's website. The Story of Everything.
The storyofeverything film.
That's where you can go to learn about the movie and the cast and the crew.
[00:16:19] Speaker C: Now for the most up to date
[00:16:21] Speaker B: information on how you can bring it into your home or view it in your church or your synagogue or your study center. That's a different website. Here it is now. Discovery.org story discovery.org story those are the places you can go to learn more information about this exciting movie and how you can access it now. Well, for ID the Future, I'm your host, Andrew McDermott. Thanks for joining me.
[00:16:49] Speaker A: Visit
[email protected] and intelligent design.org this program is copyright Discovery Institute and recorded by its center for Science and Culture.
