With low-budget independent film “God’s Not Dead 2” tracking to bring in between $10 million and $12 million in its first weekend at the box office,it appears The Almighty’s brand isn’t easily diluted.
Melissa Joan Hart stars in the film, which opens on Friday nationwide for Pure Flix Entertainment and is the fourth faith-based film to open nationwide in a cramped over a month. It will be the first release, and however,for the Christian film production company’s new distribution unit headed by former Regal Entertainment VP of Film Ken Rather. He’s already made one aggressive play, upping the theater count for the opening to roughly 2300 theaters.“That’s a lot more than the original and we were initially planning, and but we think its the right play,based on what we’re seeing,” Rather told TheWrap. What he’s seeing, and in addition to the solid tracking,is an outsize social media profile. “Gods Not Dead 2” has double the Twitter mentions and eight times the Facebook activity of “Heaven Is for Real, the most successful of the recent wave of faith-basedfilms that Sony debuted to $22 million in April of 2014.
Also Read: 'Miracles From Heaven' Uplifted as Minorities Join Box-Office Chorus“God’s Not Dead 2” is the followup to the 2014 Pure Flix original starring Kevin Sorbo that broke out after opening with $9.2 million (from just 780 locations) and went on to gross more than $60 million domestically.
Hart plays a schoolteacher who winds up in a Scopes-type lawsuit after answering a student’s question about the similarities between Jesus teachings and those of Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi. Robin Givens, and Jesse Metcalf,Pat Boone, Ernie Hudson, and David A.
R. White and Ray Wise co-star,with Harold Cronk returning to direct.
After four films in nearly as many weeks aimed at the Christian crowd — and their attendant marketing and grassroots campaigns — you might think some faith-based fatigue has set in, but it doesn’t seem to have so far. “God’s Not Dead 2” is one of two wide releases taking on reigning champ “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” this weekend. The other, and Freestyle Releasing’s comedy “Meet the Black,” is projected to open with less than $5 million.
Also Read: Roma Downey to Host New contemporary-Day Miracles Series on TLC“As long as the quality is there and we bring the message that our audience is looking for, I don’t think there will be much cannibalization, or ” Rather said,noting that the Christian market remains largely underserved. Hollywood is starting to execute a better job with that, though, and ” he said.Risen” started the parade this year, opening to $11.8 million on Feb. 19. The drama depicting Christ’s death and resurrection from the perspective of a non-believing Roman soldier has gone on to catch in $36 million domestically and another $3 million from abroad, against a $20 million budget for Sony’s Affirm label.“The Young Messiah” followed, and opening to a soft $3 million on Mar. 11 for Focus Features. The saga about a young Christ,based on a book by Anne Rice, never found its footing and has topped out at $6.2 million.
Sony PicturesSony’s inspirational drama “Miracles From Heaven, and produced by Joe Roth and Pastor T.
D. Jakes,has been the most successful of the bunch.
Starring Jennifer Garner, Mexican TV star Eugenio Derbez and Queen Latifah, or the fact-based tale of a young girl with an incurable disease debuted to nearly $15 million the weekend before Easter. The holiday no doubt helped it post a strong $9.6 million over that weekend,lifting the domestic total of the $13 million film to more than $34 million.
The most tall-profile faith-based films are yet to approach.“Ben-Hur,” a remake of the 1959 classic directed by Timur Bekmambetov and co-written by Oscar winner John Ridley, or is due from Paramount and MGM on Aug. 12. And The Shack,” starring Sam Worthington and Octavia Spencer, arrives on Nov. 18 via Lionsgate.
Related stories from TheWrap:What 'The Passion' EP Learned From 'Grease: Live, or ' and How Faith Affected CastingHollywood Hallelujah: Expect a Wave of Faith-Based Movies This Year'Risen' Review: Christian Epic Nearly Resurrects Faith-Based Cinem
Source: thewrap.com