Richard Dutcher in his upcoming film “Falling.”

Richard Dutcher, whose 2000 film “God’s Army” launched a new wave of Mormon-themed theatrical features, announced two things last week: that he’s leaving Mormon cinema, and that he’s leaving the Mormon church.

This is big news to followers of LDS cinema, and small news to people who didn’t realize there was such a thing as LDS cinema. But in Utah there has been no bigger film-related story in this decade than Mormon cinema — films made by, for, and about Mormons.

“God’s Army,” released March 10, 2000, was the first. Its $2.1 million gross showed Utah filmmakers that a movie with a niche audience (Mormons comprise only about 2 percent of the U.S. population) could be successful, provided they kept costs low and turned out a good product. Dutcher himself made the movement’s second entry, “Brigham City” (2001). By the end of 2003, 10 more non-Dutcher LDS films had been released, some good, some bad, some profitable, some not. As of this writing, another dozen or so entries have been filed, including Dutcher’s third film, “States of Grace” (2005), which is far and away the best of the lot and one of the best films of any kind of that year.

Most of these played only in Utah theaters. A few did well enough to move into other locations, mostly in the western U.S., where the highest concentration of Mormon audiences is. None ever managed to be the illusory “crossover success” that many directors were hoping for; in general, non-Mormons have shown no interest in watching movies they perceived as being for Mormons only.

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Monday again? Already? Didn’t we just have one of these like a week ago?!

Because it is Monday, here is your “Snide Remarks,” with the podcast version embedded right there on the page. I was going to write about the Don Imus thing, but then I decided to just make a casual, careless reference to it instead.

ALSO! Here are reviews of Friday’s not-screened-for-critics “Slow Burn” and “Redline.” The reason they weren’t screened for critics, of course, is that they’re bad movies, but in this case I think that plan may have backfired. “Redline” made only $4 million this weekend, debuting in 11th place, while “Slow Burn” managed just $800,000 and about 19th place. Those numbers suggest a lack of public awareness. If they’d been screened for critics, there would have been reviews in all the papers and online on Friday. Yeah, most of the reviews would have been negative — but at least it would have increased the films’ visibility. Ultimately, all publicity is good publicity.

“Redline” has an amusing backstory. As reported by the Los Angeles Times, it is the brainchild of Daniel Sadek, a millionaire real estate mogul who wanted an excuse to show off his fancy cars, and also to give his actress girlfriend a starring role. He dreamed up the story and handed it over to an unknown screenwriter and director, appointing himself producer and financier. He put about $55 million of HIS OWN MONEY into the film’s production and marketing, and is distributing it himself, too. (Usually, people who produce movies independently sell them to studios to handle the distribution. That’s what Sundance is all about: “Here’s this movie we made; will you please use your money and resources to put it into theaters for us?”)

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