The box office underwent a religious
conversion this weekend as Christian crowds flocked to War Room, lifting the
low-budget salute to prayer above the Zac Efron drama We Are Your
Friends and the Owen Wilson thriller No Escape.
Filmed for a mere $3 million and
distributed by Sony's Affirm division, War Room more than tripled its
production budget in a single weekend, picking up $11 million from 1,135
locations. That also easily topped projections that had it debuting in the $4
million to $5 million range, although in retrospect those estimates were overly
conservative given that advance ticket sales were unusually strong.
"These are the kind of outlier events
that happen and wake everyone up to the fact that faith-based audiences are
passionate and looking for content," said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media
analyst at Rentrak.
The film is the latest faith-based hit
from director Alex Kendrick and his brother, writing and producing partner
Stephen Kendrick, the pair behind Fireproof and Courageous. It marks the
biggest debut of their careers.
"There is so much love for this
film," said Rory Bruer, Sony's distribution chief. "It starts with
the Kendricks. They're visionaries in this genre."
Despite the success of the "War
Room," "Straight Outta Compton" topped charts for a third
consecutive weekend, becoming the first film to manage that feat since
"Jurassic World." The rap biopic about the early days of N.W.A.
pulled in an impressive $13.2 million, pushing its domestic total to $134.1
million. It is now the highest-grossing musical biopic, trumping the Johnny
Cash drama "Walk the Line" and its $119.5 million domestic haul.
War Room reaffirms the potency of
faith-based crowds, ranking along previous hits such as God's Not Dead and
Heaven is for Real, but aside from its success, there was very little to
celebrate.
The month of August sputtered to a close
as the trio of new releases failed to inject much life into ticket sales. The
overall box office was down more than 20 percent from the year-ago period when
Guardians of the Galaxy was still drawing big crowds. That comparison is
problematic, however, given that Labor Day fell during that period and the
holiday has been pushed back a week this year.
No Escape, a thriller about an American
family ensnared in a violent political coup in a nameless Asian country,
finished in fourth place with $8.2 million from 3,355 locations. It has earned
$10.2 million since debuting on Wednesday. The Weinstein Company paid just
under $5 million for rights to the film, which was criticized in by some
critics for being retrograde in its depiction of a developing country's culture
and politics. Full Report
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