The hunger for religious-themed movies hasn’t been dissipated at all by the recent Son of God, God’s Not Dead and Noah, as HEAVEN IS FOR REAL (TriStar/Sony) had a very healthy $3.7M start on Wednesday at 2417 theatres despite indifferent reviews (50% positive on Rotten Tomatoes), edging out CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER (Disney) at $3.5M and RIO 2 (20th) at $3M. That’s not as impressive as the $2.8M God’s Not Dead made on its opening day in just 780 theaters, and not in a league with the $9.5M first day for Son of God, but it’s a solid start nevertheless, and with Easter weekend ahead, it should mean $20M or so by Sunday. After the consistently strong performance of this genre over the past several weeks, look for the studios to jump in to the field even more strongly–these films may not be at the level of superhero blockbusters, but with their modest budgets (Noah aside), they provide a heavenly source of reliable profit.
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About the Author
Mitch Salem
MITCH SALEM has worked on the business side of the entertainment industry for 20 years, as a senior business affairs executive and attorney for such companies as NBC, ABC, USA, Syfy, Bravo, and BermanBraun Productions, and before that, at the NY law firm of Weil, Gotshal & Manges. During all that, he has more or less constantly been going to the movies and watching TV, and writing about both since the 1980s. His film reviews also currently appear on screened.com and the-burg.com. In addition, he is co-writer of an episode of the television series "Felicity."
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