{"id":19903,"date":"2014-07-08T11:50:59","date_gmt":"2014-07-08T18:50:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/?p=19903"},"modified":"2014-07-08T11:50:59","modified_gmt":"2014-07-08T18:50:59","slug":"box-office-update-poor-july-4-attendance-affects-two-movies-with-a-faith-hook-that-are-not-faith-based-movies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2014\/07\/box-office-update-poor-july-4-attendance-affects-two-movies-with-a-faith-hook-that-are-not-faith-based-movies.html","title":{"rendered":"Box-office update: Poor July 4 attendance affects two movies with a faith hook that are not “faith-based” movies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>From the controversy surrounding Alone Yet Not Alone<\/i> in January to the release of Moms\u2019 Night Out<\/i> in May, there\u2019s been a lot of talk this year about \u201cfaith-based\u201d movies, a genre that apparently covers everything from low-budget Christian propaganda to big-budget Bible movies with a distinctly Jewish sensibility. Curiously, though, one of the most faith-oriented films of the year came out this past week, and no one thought to group it in with the rest.<\/p>\n

Well, perhaps it\u2019s not that<\/i> curious. Deliver Us from Evil<\/a><\/i>, based on a book by retired NYPD sergeant Ralph Sarchie and directed by horror-movie expert Scott Derrickson, may have been made by openly Christian people \u2014 see this featurette<\/a> on Sarchie and my 2005 interview<\/a> with Derrickon for more on that \u2014 but the film is rated R, and it earns that rating with lots of four-letter words and disturbing images. So for those who are inclined to think that \u201cfaith-based\u201d films are synonymous with \u201cfamily\u201d films and the like, there was never any question of putting this film in that category.<\/p>\n

In any case, Deliver Us from Evil<\/i> was one of three new films that opened in wide release this weekend<\/a> \u2014 and the release date might have hurt the film, since one does not ordinarily associate horror films with the Fourth of July. The film grossed only $9.7 million for the three-day weekend and $15.3 million for the five days going back to its opening on Wednesday. That\u2019s the lowest opening ever for one of Derrickson\u2019s films<\/a>, and the three-day figure is the lowest three-day opening for any wide release produced by Jerry Bruckheimer<\/a> since Top Gun<\/i> opened way, way back in 1986.<\/p>\n

But pretty much all films performed below expectations<\/a> this weekend compared to previous Fourth of July weekends. The #1 movie, Transformers: Age of Extinction<\/a><\/i>, earned $37.1 million, which is the lowest that any film has earned in the #1 spot on a Fourth of July weekend since Cats & Dogs<\/i> came out in 2001. And the #2 movie, Tammy<\/a><\/i>, scored one of the lowest openings for a Melissa McCarthy film<\/a> since Bridesmaids<\/i> made her a household name (or at least somewhat bankable<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Another film that kind of, sort of, maybe but not really fits in the \u201cfaith-based\u201d category is America<\/a><\/i>, Dinesh D\u2019Souza\u2019s follow-up to his documentary 2016: Obama\u2019s America<\/i>. As far as I can tell, the new film is all about politics, not religion, but D\u2019Souza did<\/i> promote it to churches<\/a>, and he even hired someone to write a movie-themed sermon that pastors could download and read from their pulpits.<\/p>\n

While the earlier documentary earned $6.5 million in its first weekend in wide release and stayed in the top ten for three weeks \u2014 grossing $33.4 million overall and becoming the second-highest-grossing political documentary<\/a> ever \u2014 the new film opened to $2.7 million and landed just outside the top ten, at #11.<\/p>\n

In other news\u2026<\/p>\n

Box Office Mojo has finally updated its page for Alone Yet Not Alone<\/i><\/a>, which had apparently earned $887,851 in total as of last Wednesday. No word yet on what the film has earned since<\/i> then, but it is apparently still playing in one theatre<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Box Office Mojo has no updates for Noah<\/a><\/i> since last week, though I\u2019d be surprised if the film had left Japan this quickly. (It opened there three weeks ago.)<\/p>\n

Heaven Is for Real<\/a><\/i> earned $191,964 in its twelfth week, landing it in the #27 spot and raising its domestic total to $90.5 million. It has earned another $4.3 million overseas for a worldwide total of $94.9 million.<\/p>\n

Moms\u2019 Night Out<\/a><\/i> earned $51,157 in its ninth week, landing it in the #40 spot and raising its domestic total to $10.4 million. It has earned another $52,112 in Australia but does not appear to have been released in any other countries overseas.<\/p>\n

And God\u2019s Not Dead<\/a><\/i> earned $36,204 in its sixteenth week, landing it in the #43 spot and raising its domestic total to $60.7 million. It has earned another $1.8 million overseas<\/a> for a worldwide total of $62.5 million.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Deliver Us from Evil<\/i> and the documentary America<\/i> may not technically be “faith-based” films, but they do have faith tie-ins to one degree or another.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1116,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[2402,1747,2400,19,2396,2401,1998,1629,810,2399,2146,2397,1404,2398,2386],"class_list":["post-19903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-2016-obamas-america","tag-alone-yet-not-alone","tag-america-2014","tag-box-office","tag-deliver-us-from-evil-2014","tag-dinesh-dsouza","tag-gods-not-dead","tag-heaven-is-for-real","tag-jerry-bruckheimer","tag-melissa-mccarthy","tag-moms-night-out","tag-ralph-sarchie","tag-scott-derrickson","tag-tammy","tag-transformers"],"yoast_head":"\nBox-office update: Poor July 4 attendance affects two movies with a faith hook that are not "faith-based" movies<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Deliver Us from Evil and the documentary America may not technically be "faith-based" films, but they do have faith tie-ins to one degree or another.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2014\/07\/box-office-update-poor-july-4-attendance-affects-two-movies-with-a-faith-hook-that-are-not-faith-based-movies.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Box-office update: Poor July 4 attendance affects two movies with a faith hook that are not "faith-based" movies\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Deliver Us from Evil and the documentary America may not technically be "faith-based" films, but they do have faith tie-ins to one degree or another.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2014\/07\/box-office-update-poor-july-4-attendance-affects-two-movies-with-a-faith-hook-that-are-not-faith-based-movies.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"FilmChat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-07-08T18:50:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/files\/2014\/07\/deliverusfromevil2014-300x168.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Peter T. 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