The third-biggest movie in America this weekend was I Can Only Imagine

The third-biggest movie in America this weekend was I Can Only Imagine, a movie that shares a title with a Christian song that first charted 17 years ago. It’s a retelling of the story of MercyMe's Bart Millard (played by newcomer J. Michael Finley) and his journey to forgive his abusive, alcoholic father (Dennis Quaid), as well as his father’s movement toward faith before his death.

Directed by brothers Andrew and Jon Erwin, whose previous movies like Mom’s Night Out, Woodlawn, and October Baby were modest box office successes, I Can Only Imagine startled many by hauling in over $17 million, making more than $10,000 per screen and beating A Wrinkle in Time in its second weekend. That means it’s the seventh-biggest faith-based film opening ever (the fourth if the Narnia films don’t count), and the biggest since Heaven Is For Real in 2014.

There are a few reasons that I Can Only Imagine did well, and the biggest is the song that inspired the movie. It tells the story behind the most successful  contemporary faith song that was ubiquitous on Christian radio — and eventually crossed over to mainstream radio.

There might be two other faith-based movies that might be a breakout hit this month.

Vox argues that movies for the faith-based audience can be broken into three main categories. One is the inspirational category, more uplifting than specifically evangelistic, to which I Can Only Imagine belongs, along with high-performing movies like Heaven Is For Real, War Room, and The Shack.

Another is stories based on the Bible, with movies like The Passion of the Christ and Son of God. And the third is movies that are essentially political in nature, like the God’s Not Dead movies.

On the Friday before Palm Sunday, Paul, Apostle of Christ will open in theaters and start competing with I Can Only Imagine for the faith-based audience. The film stars Jim Caviezel, who is best known among the faith-based audience for playing Jesus in The Passion of the Christ (and reportedly will reprise his role in an upcoming sequel).

And on Good Friday, God’s Not Dead: A Light in the Darkness, the third installment in the God’s Not Dead series, opens in theaters. In this one, a pastor discovers that his church has burned down and that the university on which it was housed is using this as a reason to move the church off campus.

The God’s Not Dead series is hugely popular — and, like I Can Only Imagine, takes its title from a song, this time from the Christian rock band the Newsboys — and will pose stiff competition to the other two films.

MercyMe, Blake Shelton and Craig Morgan Join Trace Adkins For "Jammin' To Beat The Blues"

Country star Trace Adkins has not only cemented his status as a country music icon, he has also made it his mission to help important causes throughout his career. Adkins serves as a spokesman for the Wounded Warrior Project and the American Red Cross and has participated in 12 USO tours. Adkins will team up with Craig Morgan, Blake Shelton and MercyMe – as well as previously announced performers Jason Crabb and High Valley – on March 21 at the Ryman in Nashville to benefit Mental Health America of Middle Tennessee.

Adkins is currently on tour with Shelton and collaborated on the No.1 hit “Hillbilly Bone,” which won the 2010 ACM Award for “Vocal Event of the Year” and was RIAA Platinum-certified. One of the most visible and constant ambassadors of country music, Shelton  continues to serve as a coach on NBC’s The Voice, with Adkins currently serving as his team advisor.

A multi-faceted entertainer, Morgan has made a name for himself as a country music star, TV personality, celebrated outdoorsman and patriotic Army veteran. Twenty-five of his hit songs have climbed the Billboard chart, including the four-week No. 1, “That’s What I Love About Sunday.” Prior to his successful career in country music, Morgan spent seventeen years serving our country in the Army and Army Reserves and has since made 14 overseas trips to perform for our servicemen and women.

Rounding out the latest lineup is multi-Platinum selling band MercyMe. The contemporary Christian band made history in 2014 as “I Can Only Imagine” became the first song in Christian music to go platinum and double-platinum in the digital domain. Almost There, the album containing the hit, recently received triple-platinum certification from the RIAA. MercyMe is currently on a nationwide tour and just unveiled I Can Only Imagine – The Very Best of MercyMe, coinciding with the soon-to-be-released film I Can Only Imagine, in which Adkins plays MercyMe’s real-life manager, Scott Brickell.

“Never have I been surrounded by more talent," says Adkins. "I am thrilled and honored to welcome these three talented artists to the line-up!”

Mental Health America of Middle Tennessee's mission is to connect the community with specialized mental health and wellness resources, provide services that improve the quality of life, and promote effective services where mental health needs exist. 

Jon Foreman, Dustin Kensrue (Thrice), Propaganda and Aaron Marsh Perform for Mental Health Charity

Jon Foreman (Switchfoot), Dustin Kensrue (Thrice), Propaganda and Aaron Marsh (Copeland) performed a live collaborative cover of Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down." 

The performance occurred as part of Heavy and Light, an annual concert event hosted by the organization To Write Love On Her Arms. All of the musicians have been longterm partners with the charity, which aims to raise awareness, support and fund treatment around issues of mental illness and addiction. 

Each of the vocalists took a section of the song, and Propaganda added a freestyle spoken word verse to the Tom Petty classic. Also on stage with the musicians were opening band Nekokat and Josh Morales, an audience member and amateur guitarist who Jon Foreman had invited to share the stage with him.

After the completion of "I Won't Back Down," which was the encore for the evening, Jon Foreman suggested the artists all stay on stage for a group performance of "Lean On Me," which concluded the night. Foreman, who has been involved with the event since it began a decade ago, said of the evening "What an amazing night! My favorite #HeavyAndLight ever."

You can find a full stream of the entire evening on TWLOHA's Facebook page by clicking here.          

                     

 

Faith Artists Already Repping on The Voice

Season fourteen of The Voice premiered on February 26, 2018, with new coach Kelly Clarkson and again features believers.

Wilkes (@WILKESmusic)
Stephanie Skipper (@StephanieSkip)
Jordan Kirkdorffer (@jkirkdorffer)
Gary Edwards (@iamgaryedwards)
Spensha Baker (@spenshabaker)
Kyla Jade (@kylasings)
Jaron Strom (@JaronStrom )
Kaleb Lee (@kalebleemusic)
Christiana Danielle (@ChristianaD)


In season 9, we noted that Christianity made a comeback on the show culminating with Jordan Smith  as the winner.

Mandisa Featured in American Idol Reboot

American Idol made its return to TVs, premiering on ABC after its long home on FOX. Correlating with the start of the season, the show launched its Icon Series, highlighting Grammy winner Mandisa. The beloved season 5 finalist discussed her journey after American Idol, both her musical career as well as her personal life. The series will continue to air throughout this season of American Idol, highlighting select Idol alumni and their achievements since appearing on the show.

Mandisa is currently on the “HITS DEEP Tour,” featuring a blockbuster lineup including TobyMac, Danny Gokey, Ryan Stevenson and Finding Favour. The 2018 "HITS DEEP Tour" is a partnership with K-LOVE, Air1 and Food for the Hungry.

Michael W. Smith to Perform on Good Morning America

Michael W. Smith will perform live on ABC-TV's Good Morning America Tuesday, March 13. The appearance was sparked by his two, back-to-back hit albums A Million Lights and Surrounded out now.

Together, the new albums have become Michael's 30th and 31st Top 10 on Billboard's Top Christian Albums chart, more than any other solo artist in history.

Released Feb. 16, Michael's USA Today, Billboard, Yahoo! Music-acclaimed studio album, A Million Lights, debuted at No. 1 on the SoundScan Christian retail chart while holding the No. 1 position most of release week on iTunes and Amazon's Christian music charts. The recording includes the lead single/video and title track along with "Love Always Wins," "Crashing Waves," "Revolution" and "Footsteps," which was recently added to Spotify's "Top Christian" and "New Music Friday Christian" playlists. Apple Music also featured the album in their "The Hottest New Music" newsletter.

One week following A Million Lights, Michael's anticipated, live worship album Surrounded released (Feb. 23) amidst 5-star acclaim and became Amazon's No. 1 "Hot New Release." The recording features the declarative "Surrounded (Fight My Battles)," "Light To You" and "Build My Life," which Michael also released as a video Feb. 23 on his Facebook and YouTube sites. Parade says the album highlights Michael's "masterful blend of uplifting messaging, brilliant song writing, solid musical talent and a desire to instill faith and hope into his listeners."

Parade will also highlight both of Michael's new albums during a live-stream "Backstory: Music and Conversation with Michael W. Smith" event to be held Monday, March 12 beginning at 7:00 pm EDT from The Cutting Room in New York, NY.

The new albums were further highlighted in an hour-long "Praise" feature on TBN that can be viewed now at TBN.org, while CBN's "The 700 Club" featured Michael and his new projects Feb. 22.

Chris Pratt Visits Roadshow Tour

Artists on the Roadshow tour entertained a very special guest last Sunday in Ontario, CA, when actor Chris Pratt came to see the show. In January, Chris Pratt introduced his 14.9 million Instagram followers to one of his favorite artists, Zach Williams, by sharing the Dove winner's song "Chain Breaker" in a video. To date the video has received over 2 million views. A representative from Merge PR shared with NRT, "From that post made in January, Chris and Zach connected, and Chris said he'd some see Zach at a show some time. So when the Roadshow tour hit the LA area this past Sunday night guess who came to the show to see Zach perform - Chris Pratt! He took some pics with a few other folks but the coolest part was he was there for Zach."

Zach Williams and Matthew West both shared photos taken with Chris to their Instagram pages: "Huge fan of this guy!" Matthew wrote. "Had a great time hanging with @prattprattpratt. Such a down to Earth dude!" Zach wrote. "Praying blessings over him and his career." 

The Roadshow posted the photo of Williams and Pratt along with a few action shots of the show with the caption: "Oh, hey, Chris Pratt! Thanks for worshipping with us in Ontario. If you ever need help saving the world from dinosaurs or intergalactic outlaws, Zach Williams has your back. And we've got a VIP pass for you anytime you're in the neighborhood. Great hanging out with you for a bit. You were a real encouragement to us in the middle of a long tour. Thanks."

Check out theroadshowtour.com for upcoming shows near you. We can't guarantee that Starlord will be there, but some of his favorite artists will.                 

Stephanie (Smith) Skipper Makes It Onto the Voice

Stephanie (Smith) Skipper makes it through NBC's The Voice Blind Audition with her performance of "Piece By Piece."

Jason Wilkes Joins Team Blake On The Voice

Jason Wilkes turned two chairs during his blind audition on NBC's hit TV show The Voice.

Although both Adam Levine (Maroon 5) and country singer Blake Shelton turned, Wilkes chose Blake as his coach- -a seemingly natural choice since Wilkes has spent the last few years as a staff writer for country songwriting firm Dan Hodges Music.

Wilkes shared with NewReleaseToday some insight on his choice of coach. "I chose Blake mainly because of our personal connection. We are cut from a very similar cloth, and I knew we would instantly 'get' each other. If I'm going to work closely with someone for weeks or months, it is very important to me that we get along well."

"I understand Blake, and I think he understands me," Wilkes continued. "We have a southern guy bond that only other southerners would understand. I have a ton in common with Adam as well, especially musically, but Blake speaks my language. Literally... people in LA have trouble understanding the words I say. Blake is fluent in 'twang!' Seriously though, I'm super stoked about what's to come. It is a real honor to be a part of Team Blake, and I can't wait for people to experience the WILKES SHELTON magic!"

You can watch Wilkes' performance, a cover of "One Headlight" by The Wallflowers, below. You can also purchase the cover on iTunes here, or stream the full episode featuring his audition via NBC.com by clicking here.  

Third Day Announces Farewell Tour

Third Day will be calling it a career after 25 years and one final farewell tour.

"These last twenty-five years of Third Day have been an amazing ride that we never in our wildest dreams thought we would experience," said founding member and lead guitarist Mark Lee. Vocalist Mac Powell added "We know this is a season that is coming to a close, and we wanted to give our fans one more chance to see us perform live. The live show has been the core fan experience, and this tour will give us an opportunity to go out and say thank you to the fans who have always been so supportive of our music."

The band announced their decision to bring this chapter to an end in a video post on social media: "These last twenty-five years have been an amazing ride that we never in our wildest dreams thought we would experience. We know this is a season that is coming to a close, and we wanted to give fans one more chance to see us perform live."

Third Day will embark on a 12-city nationwide farewell tour beginning May 31 in Seattle, Washington, hitting at least one city in every region of the mainland, including Third Day's home state of Georgia, and wrapping up on June 27 in Denver, Colorado.

VIP tickets go on sale March 7th at noon, and general tickets are available on March 9th at 10 AM local venue time.

The southern rockers, fronted by vocalist Mac Powell, have been releasing CCM worship and pop/rock hits since their self-titled debut released in June 1996. Most recently, they returned to southern rock with Revival in 2017.