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| Company type | Film production anddistribution |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1951 |
| Founder | Billy Graham and Dick Ross |
| Defunct | 2003 |
| Headquarters | , |
| Website | World Wide Pictures |
World Wide Pictures (WWP) was afilm distributor andproduction company established as asubsidiary of theBilly Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) in 1951. It is involved in the production and distribution ofevangelisticfilms, the production of Graham crusade films, andpublicity for Graham crusades.
WWP was established in 1951 after Graham met Dick Ross, who had produced adocumentary film of Graham's 1950 crusade inPortland, Oregon.[1] 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 theBilly Graham Evangelistic Film Ministry (which was to be WWP's official name until 1980).
WWP's firstfeature film wasMr. Texas, produced during Graham's 1951Fort Worth, Texas Crusade. It was also during the 1950s that WWP established production facilities inBurbank, California.
Perhaps WWP's best-known production was the 1965 filmThe Restless Ones, featuringKim Darby. It was the first theatrical movie.[2] According to an October 14, 1966, issue ofChristianity Today more than 120,000 professions of faith were recorded after more than two million people viewed the film. Other feature films includedTwo a Penny (also 1965), which starredCliff Richard. BothThe Hiding Place (1975, withJulie Harris) andTime to Run (1973) receivedGolden 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 asmade-for-TV movies.
They cautiously returned to feature films in 2001 with the limited national release ofRoad to Redemption, WWP's first comedy after over 125 films.[3] The film starredPat Hingle, Julie Condra,Leo Rossi,Jay Underwood,Tony Longo, andWes Studi.[4] It was followed byThe Climb, which starredJason Winston George,Ned Vaughn, andDabney Coleman, and featuredTodd Bridges. In 2003, the company releasedLast Flight Out.
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