Several faith-based films found surprising box-office success throughout 2023.
Films such as Angel Studios’s His Only Son, Sound of Freedom, and After Death outpaced their competition with presale tickets that helped lead them toward the top of the box office. They followed the success of Jesus Revolution, which hit the big screen in February.
FAITH-BASED FILM SUCCESSES ENCOURAGE JESUS REVOLUTION PRODUCER: ‘THERE’S A HUNGER FOR IT’
Sound of Freedom detailed the true story of how Tim Ballard, a former federal agent with Homeland Security, quit his job and risked his life to journey into the jungles of Colombia to save children from sex slavery. It claimed the No. 1 spot ahead of Disney’s latest Indiana Jones film in its theatrical debut on the Fourth of July.
“During the 1800s, Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and it became the bestselling book of the 1800s, and that book was credited by Abraham Lincoln for ending slavery,” Angel Studios Chief Content Officer Jeff Harmon told the Washington Examiner. “Our hope is that [Sound of Freedom] can be the modern-day version of Uncle Tom’s Cabin.”
His Only Son also shocked the box office just ahead of Easter, taking the No. 3 spot in its opening weekend as it became the first-ever nationwide theatrical release to be crowdfunded. The film made history as fans gifted tickets to others in a pay-it-forward fashion.
Following such success, Angel Studios also released the documentary After Death in October. The film explores what happens after death, based on people’s near-death experiences, including the perspectives of scientists and survivors. It became the top-grossing documentary since 2019.
Moviegoers also defied film critics’ reviews of Jesus Revolution, which featured Frasier star Kelsey Grammer as Southern California pastor Chuck Smith, who invites hippies into his church, beginning the real-life Christian movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The film took the box office’s No. 3 spot in its opening weekend and has since more than quadrupled original earning expectations by grossing nearly $50 million domestically.
“If audiences come and they show up, and they show that they have a hunger for it, then more of that content will continue to get made,” Jesus Revolution producer Kevin Downes told the Washington Examiner. “Some of these smaller releases that have gotten some traction in theaters and really doing a nice box-office number, it becomes very encouraging as a whole — the entire market.”
The Blind is another faith-based film that has outperformed expectations. While it detailed the darker times that preceded the beloved Duck Dynasty TV series, it intended to display hope found in God.
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“There’s definitely a place and an appetite for that,” Willie Robertson, the film’s producer and son of Duck Dynasty patriarch Phil Robertson, told the Washington Examiner. “We saw the [Duck Dynasty] show that dominated the ratings and ended with a prayer — things that I never would have thought would happen, especially in recent America. … Not only does it work, it works well.”
The Blind hit nearly 2,000 theaters nationwide in September, earning the No. 4 box-office spot in its opening weekend. The film has since grossed more than $16 million domestically.
