Faith-based films have become a new way of framing the components tied to traditional Christian values and beliefs. The fact that moviegoers expect something massive from the highly anticipated sequel to The Passion of the Christ is only slightly indicative of how big of an audience there is for these films. They do incredibly well (the first God’s Not Dead made 30 times its budget at the box office alone) and have inspired their own streaming platform, PureFlix, and yet remain critically reviled (the same film has a 12% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and hardly any modern Christian films break 30%).
Source: New Christian Cinema: The Movies That Define the Movement