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.

Thousand Foot Krutch's Trevor McNevan Records Song For the #1 Movie in the Country

Thousand Foot Krutch lead singer Trevor McNevan recently shared on Facebook a few days ago that he recorded a theme song for the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie "Out Of Shadows."

"I had the privilege of singing and writing a rhyme for the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles theme song for the new movie "Out Of Shadows" (June 3rd) along with my good buddy Phil X and an incredible cast of players!  Hearing the verse lyrics and the melody brought back so many memories!! Hilarious. Had a blast!"

The movie premiered at the top of the box office earning over $35 million.

TFK's upcoming album releases June 17th.

Miracles from Heaven and God's Not Dead 2 Remain in Top 10 at Box Office

Faith-based hit Miracles from Heaven declined by 35% to $4.7M and Sony has taken in a solid $53.7M overall. Fellow religion-themed drama God's Not Dead 2 fell 47% after a weak opening to $4.1M for a cume of $14M for Pure Flix.

God's Not Dead 2 Opens in Fourth Place at the Box Office While Miracles From Heaven Remains in Fifth

The sequel God's Not Dead 2 opened in fourth place with below-expectations results grossing $7.6M from 2,419 locations for a $3,152 average. Both the gross and average were below what its predecessor generated two years ago in March 2014. The first God's Not Dead opened with $9.2M from 1/3 of the theaters for a potent $11,852 average.

Another faith-based film sat in the top five with Miracles from Heaven grossing $7.3M in its third week. It has earned an impressive $46.5M to date which is more than three times the film's production cost.

Miracles From Heaven Remains in Top 5, Risen Falls Out of Top 10 Easter Weekend

Miracles from Heaven fell 36% its second week despite it being Easter weekend, but remained in the Top 5 at the box office with $9.5 million.  The big story of the weekend was Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.

Risen narrowly missed the top 10 with $900K to place 11th.  The Young Messiah was #17 with $274K.

Risen in Top 5 at the Box Office for Second Consecutive Week

Risen remained in the top 5 for a second weekend despite dropping 40.7%, bringing in an estimated $7 million for a total of $22.7 million in two weeks.

Risen is For Real

Risen opens in third place with $11.8 million along with a solid "A-" CinemaScore. The film should continue to do well through March and into early April as it scored one of the biggest faith-based openings of all-time, placing seventh behind the likes of The Passion of the Christ, Son of God and Heaven is for Real as well as the three films in the Narnia trilogy. The audience was 53% female with 70 percent 25 years of age and over.

The 33 Opens in Top 5 at Box Office

The 33 opened in 5th place with $5.8 million.  Headlined by Antonio Banderas, the Chilean miner drama didn't sufficiently leverage its solid, "A" CinemaScore, but at least those that saw it—73% of which were over 25—seemed to enjoy it.

Woodlawn Opens in Top 10

"Woodlawn," a faith-based film that tells the true story of a 1970s Alabama high school football team that came to Christ during a time of racial injustice, raked in $4.1 million to open in 9th place during its opening weekend.

Produced by Roma Downey and Mark Burnett, the film stars Jon Voight, Caleb Castille and Sherri Shepherd.

3 Faith Titles in Top 15 at the Box Office

The PG-13 rated Captive premiered in 11th at the box office, while War Room dropped to #6 and 90 Minutes in Heaven to #13.

War Room dipped only 19% in its fourth weekend (thanks in part to 300 more screens) to an estimated $6.3M pushing its total to $49M.

War Room Drops to #3 & 90 Minutes in Heaven Premieres in Top 10

hit War Room dropped from first to third with an estimated $7.4M, off just 22%. The Sony film has made $39.2M to date.

Opening in ninth place was the new faith-based drama 90 Minutes in Heaven which debuted to an estimated $2.2M from 878 locations for a lackluster $2,461 average. Based on a best-selling book, the PG-13 pic stars Hayden Christensen and Kate Bosworth and did not connect with its target audience the way many others from recent years have.   This was the widest opening for Samuel Goldwyn since 1992's Rock-A-Doodle and the largest three-day total since 2008's Fireproof.

War Room Now the #1 Movie in the US. How Long Can It Continue Its Run?

War Room dropped a slight 18% in its second week, taking in $9.3M for the three-day domestic box office and the #1 spot on the charts. As far as the opening films, A Walk in the Woods, with $8.2M, ambled past The Transporter Refueled, which made $7.2M.

Neither of those films could move Straight Outta Compton out of the #2 spot.

The last time that a film failed to open at #1, only to rise to do so later, wasn't that long ago. Inside Out, in its third weekend, took #1 over the Fourth of July holiday, finally moving past Jurassic World, in its fourth week of release.

War Room rose from second to first place thanks in part to a 34% boost in screens. The Sony title raised its total to $27.9M. Nice comparison to Heaven Is For Real and Fireproof.

Universal is reporting that Jurassic World crossed the $1B threshold at the international box office. It's only the fourth film to ever reach the milestone joining 2009's Avatar ($2.027B) 1997's Titanic, ($1.528B) and this year's Furious 7 ($1.162B).

Another Faith Film Shocks Hollywood with Box Office - War Room Opens in Second Place

The faith-based drama War Room delivered a terrific opening in second place despite playing in only 1,135 locations as the Sony release grossed an estimated $11M. The PG-rated movie, which beat Compton (this week's #1 title) in theaters on Friday, had a robust $9,692 per screen average.

War Room, however, was the story of the weekend. Sony's faith-based film from their Affirm division flew so far under the radar that it didn't even get a Cinemascore. But it nearly stole Compton's title and, at the same time, became the biggest hit for the Kendrick brothers. Their modestly-budgeted flicks have a great return on investment. War Room has a reported budget of $3.5M while their 2011 Courageous had a $2M budget, going on to a domestic cume of $34.5. Their 2008 Fireproof had a $33.5M domestic cume on a budget of $500K.

'Jurassic World' Passes 'Avengers' For Biggest Opening Ever

The dinosaurs are definitively back on top after "Jurassic World" had a Tyrannosaurus-rex-sized opening that proved even bigger than expected.

The film brought in $208.8 million in its first weekend in theaters,  That's the highest-grossing opening weekend of all time.

"Marvel's The Avengers" had previously held the domestic opening weekend record. That film opened to $207.4 million in 2012.

Chris Pratt stars in the fourth installment of the popular "Jurassic" series. Internationally, the film grossed a similarly mighty $315.3 million, bringing its international total to a record $524.1 million.

Do You Believe? Remains in Top 10

Faith-based drama Do You Believe? fell 40% to an estimated $2.2M giving the Pure Flix release $7.1M to date.

Do You Believe? Premieres in Top 10 at Box Office

Do You Believe? debuted in sixth place calling up $3.6M from 1,320 theaters for a per screen average of $2,721. The creators of this film were behind last year's surprise hit God's Not Dead which opened this same weekend in 2014 to $9.2M on its way to a strong $60.7M finale. It looks like Do You Believe? might be lucky to hit even one third of that number, but if the production budget was anything like the $2M spent on God's Not Dead, the film could still be pretty successful.

‘Guardians Of The Galaxy’ Hits More Box Office Milestones

Guardians of the Galaxy opened at the beginning of August, a traditionally less lucrative month for tentpole films. The lack of blockbuster competitors in the month actually worked in Marvel’s favor and Guardians launched to the largest August opening weekend of all-time. The real story is how long it held strong, dropping to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles the following weekend but jumping back to the top slot for several consecutive weeks after.

It held onto that momentum in large part to positive reviews and word-of-mouth to become the third biggest Marvel movie ever in the U.S. (and biggest of the year) and the most successful Marvel franchise starter. Two months later and Guardians of the Galaxy finally opened in China last week to become the country’s largest October opening of all-time and in the U.S., 11 weeks in, the film is still outperforming The Avengers and The Dark Knight, along with all of the Spider-Man and X-Men movies.

With all of that in mind, it’s not really surprising at this point to see the film cross the $700 million mark at the worldwide box office. Captain America: The Winter Soldier also hit that milestone with an equally impressive success story earlier this year where it also set records opening in early April.

‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ Astounds With $160.4 Mil Debut

“The Guardians of the Galaxy” touched down with a dazzling $94 million this weekend.

That set a new record for an August domestic debut, easily trumping the $69.3 million bow of 2007’s “The Bourne Ultimatum,” and scoring the third biggest stateside opening of the year. Overseas, the film netted an impressive $66.4 million in 42 territories, including Russia, Brazil, Mexico and the United Kingdom. It has brought in $160.4 million worldwide and still has many major markets left to open such as China, Australia, France and Spain.

The Walt Disney release blew past tracking that initially suggested a U.S. debut in the $65 million to $70 million range.

“It’s a testament to the momentum of the brand overall and all of the pieces just coming together in the right way,” said Dave Hollis, Walt Disney Studios’ executive vice president of theatrical distribution.

The distribution chief argued that part of the reason tracking was so off was that Disney saved 40% of its marketing for the final week before the film opened, allowing them to drive awareness for the picture at a critical point.

“Guardians of the Galaxy” represented a roll of the dice for the studio and its corporate parent, Walt Disney. It arrived with a production budget of $170 million (plus whatever it cost to market the interstellar heroes from one end of the planet to the other), but without the brand recognition of a Captain America or a Thor. It also debuted in August, traditionally a slower time for popcorn films.

Tapping James Gunn, a tongue-in-cheek auteur best known for low-budget enterprises such as “Slither” and “Super,” and Chris Pratt, the “Parks & Recreation” funny man, were offbeat choices that reaped dividends. The picture was hailed for its sense of humor, with critics rewarding it with a 96% “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

“The movie is irreverent, the movie is rebellious and the movie is not a slick Hollywood-produced wrap everything up in bow kind of film,” said Greg Foster, chairman and president of Imax Entertainment.

Blasting off at the tail-end of summer was also a deft move. This summer has been a dreadful one for the movie business, with receipts down nearly 20% from last year’s record-breaker. But that meant that movie-goers were hungry for a broad, exciting, special effects-driven adventure after three months of blockbusters that weren’t.

Was This The Last Weekend A Faith Based Movie Will Be in the Top 10?

A 10th place finish by Heaven Is for Real over the four-day weekend kept Memorial Day weekend from being the first without a faith-based movie in the top 10 since February 21-23, the week before Son of God debuted in theaters.

Based on the bestselling book, Heaven Is for Real earned $2 million in its sixth week open. With a budget of $12 million, the film has thus far generated nearly $86 million.

X-Men: Days of Future Past won the extended weekend with $91.4 million.

Moms' Night Out which was heavily marketed to family audiences, fell from 10th to 13th over the weekend. The film made roughly $700,000, bringing its total haul to $8.7 million. The comedy, starring Patricia Heaton, cost $5 million to make.

March release God's Not Dead dropped out of the top 30 this week and Box Office Mojo contained no figures for the movie's financial performance. Posts on the movie' Facebook page informed viewers that Memorial Day weekend would likely be their last chance to catch the movie in theaters.

The movie is the seventh highest grossing Christian film and brought in nearly $60 million over its nine week run. The low-budget film, which cost $2 million to make, trails Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ, three Chronicles of Narnia films, and 2014 hits Heaven Is for Real and Son of God.

Heaven Is for Real is the final well-known faith-based film in theaters until Exodus: Gods and Kings premieres in the U.S. on December 14. Christian Bale will star as Moses, Aaron Paul as Joshua, Joel Edgerton as Moses' step-brother and Pharaoh Ramses, Signourney Weaver as Tuya, Moses' Egyptian mother, and John Turturro as Seti, Moses' Egyptian foster father.

A film about the life of Mary is also scheduled for later this year.

Moms Night Out In Top 10 at Box Office

Enough moms came out so that Moms Night Out placed in seventh place.  Opening at 1,044 theaters, Moms' Night Out earned an estimated $4.2 million this weekend. While it's a fairly modest release, the success of faith-based movies this year coupled with the strong Mother's Day release date makes this number a very slight disappointment.

The problem, of course, was that Moms' Night Out was lacking any obvious faith-affirming content. In comparison, recent hits God's Not Dead and Heaven is for Real have it right there in the title.

Moms' Night Out looks like a massive success, though, when compared to Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return. The animated movie opened in 2,575 locations, where it earned a paltry $3.71 million. That's one of the lowest debuts ever for a movie at over 2,500 theaters.

In fourth place, Heaven is for Real was off a light 19 percent to $7 million. Through four weekends, the faith-based hit has brought in an impressive $75.2 million.