"Meet the Mormons" premiers in Orem

The theatrical poster for "Meet the Mormons"

OREM, Utah -- The movie “Meet the Mormons” premiered in Orem, Utah this past Monday ahead of its official release date in October.

The showing of the movie was the third of three pre-screenings. The first was in Atlanta, Georgia on September 17 while the second was in Mesa, Arizona the very next day.

“Meet the Mormons” is a movie that is made by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with the intention of helping non-members get to know more about the church. All financial gains made by the movie will be donated to charity.

The Orem premier of the movie was very crowded

 On the movie’s official website, meetthemormons.com, it states, “‘Meet the Mormons’ examines the very diverse lives of six devout members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Filmed on location and across the globe, ‘Meet the Mormons’ takes viewers on a journey into the day-to-day realities of individuals living in the U.S., Costa Rica, Nepal and beyond. From their individual passions to their daily struggles, each story paints a picture as rich and unique as the next while challenging the stereotypes that surround the Mormon faith.”

Screening took place at Cinemark University Mall

While this isn’t the first movie to be made by the church, this is the first that they have distributed in movie theaters across the country. Previously made movies by the church such as “Legacy” and “The Testaments: Of One Fold and One Shepard” were released solely in Legacy Theater in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah. There have been several LDS-themed movies such as “The Saratov Approach” that have been released nationwide, but none of them were officially made by the church.

Many people from the premier were turned away

Greg Ward, a student at Brigham Young University who attended the Orem premier, had this to say about the movie, “There’s lots of people out there who are curious about Mormonism and the LDS faith in general and this will give another opportunity for people to learn more about the church in a positive manner rather than just hearing about all the negative things that are out there on the internet or stories that they’ve heard from friends that are completely untrue.”

Excitement about the movie has been very strong as was shown by the high number of people that showed up for the Orem premier. Cinemark University Mall, the location of the screening, had a huge line that snaked around the theater. In fact, there were so many people there that many were turned down, despite the theater having two different screens showing the movie.

"Meet the Mormons" wristbands were handed out

“Meet the Mormons” will be released nationwide on October 10 in 30 different states and is rated PG for “some thematic elements.” Specific locations of release can be found on meetthemormons.com. The website also allows people to request the movie to come to their city if it is not currently scheduled. Those requests will be granted based on the number of requests made for a certain area.