WTF: Fireproof Made Over $6.5 Million This Weekend?

Posted on Sunday, September 28th, 2008 by Peter Sciretta

The big surprise this weekend at the box office was a small budget ($500,000) limited release called Fireproof, which made over $6.5 million on only 839 screens. The film beat Spike Lee’s latest - Miracle at St. Anna! So how evangelical actor Kirk Cameron’s firefighter faith-based film become the year’s second highest grossing opening weekend released on lass than 1,000 screens (Hannah Montana’s 3D concert film is #1).

Provident Films’ grassroots marketing and outreach targeted churches, and organizations like American Family Association and Focus on the Family. Nikki Finke reports that “Faith-based “Action Squads” bought up blocks of tickets.” The film sold out a lot of screenings over the weekend, making a reported $7,764 per theatre (Steve Mason). Fireproof is the latest film from Sherwood Pictures, a nonprofit ministry of Sherwood Baptist Church in Georgia, that previously released 2006’s Facing the Giants ($10.17 million at the box office). Now that Sherwood Pictures has proved the Christian-themed film to be a profitable endeavor, I would expect Hollywood to jump on the bandwagon.

MGM co-founder Louis B. Mayer was once quoted as saying “If you want to send a message, send a telegram.” If you ask me, the worst kind of movies are message films. You can’t get more cliche or formulaic than an after school special. And even if Fireproof attempted to focus more on story than your typical after school special, it is still a message film at its core.

If you want to see real entertainment, watch this video of “An Atheists Worst Nightmare” with Kirk Cameron trying to prove the existence of God using a banana.

Comments 

 

Related Posts

Tags

Box Office, WTF, ,

  • Eric B.
    Dammit! I'm Jewish so I hate these films. Sigh
  • Eric B.
    Where's steven Spielberg when I need him?
  • Superman
    Eh.. i's an interesting quandary. (I know.. omg u fag) How the hell in our post feminist society did a movie about traditional marriage sell so well? I... don't know... maybe kirk's still got fans somewhere.
  • evanz
    Never leave your "partner" behind? Have Christians finally embraced their inner gayness?
  • I'm Christian and I hate these films. It's obvious no one involved knows how to make a good movie. But lots of people (including the maestros behind the [blank] Movies and fellow Christian Tyler Perry) but people still turn out in droves. I'll never quite understand it. But you can already see Hollywood jumping on the bandwagon. Twentieth Century Fox already has Fox Faith, so I'd expect others to develop similar studios.
  • Jon
    I am also a Christian and an avid movie buff.
    This is my opinion if Christians wanna see a movie that caters them and are paying good money (33mil and counting on this movie alone). then by all means more power to them. If a church can turn 500,000 into over 30 million and get its message across then clearly they are not the stupid ones.
  • Christian
    You definitely are not a christian.
  • RAPTOR JESUS OUR SAVIOR.

    HE WENT EXTINCT FOR YOUR SINS.
  • im really looking forward to the IRON MAN DVD release.
  • John S.
    I watched that video, and the only thing I got out of it was about 14 "That's what she said" jokes...
  • Captain Awesome
    Would Jesus Like Backdraft?
  • RageTreb
    The banana as we know it was selectively grown through countless generations by humans.
  • chris_sc77
    I like Screen Rant's idea.
    Oh, in a perfect world...In a perfect world.
  • I have nothing against Christian based films, but I do have something against Kirk Cameron. He's truly one of the most mentally ill human beings on the planet. His WAY OF THE MASTER show on the CBN network is truly distubing as he damns 99% of the public to HELL each episode. If you ever get a chance to catch it its a stunning thing to watch considering who he is. His former castmates on Growing Pains know he's been brainwashed and most actors that have worked with him, hate him because he has the be saved or else attitude. I actually think he's got talent as an actor but he's mentally unstable as a person!
  • rick
    anyone who isn't a christian will find fault with (and condem) anyone who truely follows Christ....here it is in a nut shell; if you claim to be a christian and you have a problem with someone else who claims christianity...check yourself,first, before you decide someone else's doorstep needs to be cleaned....ie: "get the beam out of your eye before you try to remove the moat from someone else's"......and if you're a fool (on authority from God's word...
    ..."anyone who says in his hear that there is no God is a fool) them just don't watch the movies and ya won't have a thing to worry about......not until after death, anyway.
  • Christian
    And you get all this from personal conversations with him? You're the one leaning a wee bit towards instability ;)
  • browny770
    I'm a Christian and I am not a fan of these movies. However, one of the producers behind the Sherwood movies is a friend and I know that they work very hard to make these films. I am an avid (multiple daily) reader of slashfilm and I have never posted a comment, but I would ask that we not use a sub-standard quality film to make broad, sweeping judgements about an entire faith or the individuals who follow this faith.
  • Ann
    What an awesome movie!! I laughed and I cried. It is inspiring and heartfelt --- there is hope for those failing marriages out there and it's JESUS and this came through loud and clear in this movie. There are so many people looking for answers and this movie shows what THE ANSWER is -- JESUS. It also showed how LOVE is an ACTION not just an emotion and let's fall in bed ---- it takes WORK and committment everyday.
  • The first interesting thing about this post is that the title ends with a question mark? I'm not sure if you're surprised or unsure of your own findings?

    Why is it okay to ridicule certain segments of the population? Christians and those that are overweight seem to be the two remaining groups that are okay to make fun of or chastise (or in Vic's case, lock up).

    Can you imagine a reputable blog allowing comments like that about any other group of human beings?

    Additionally, I find your line, "Now that Sherwood Pictures has proved the Christian-themed film to be a profitable endeavor, I would expect Hollywood to jump on the bandwagon," to be a bit naive. Have you ever heard of The Passion of the Christ or The Chronicles of Narnia?

    So this film is not in the same league as those films to be sure. And, certainly, you're entitled to say anything about it you want. But do you really intend to offend an entire group of people who believe a certain way? A way different than you? Do they not read blogs too?
  • rick
    ok mr jeff b...good for you, and I agree.
  • gocitizen
    I wonder if there are any metaphorical strip clubs and cat houses burning down and being saved by Kirk. Not because I'm being sarcastic but, I'm wondering how they did it within the budget.
  • Jamie
    ???

    Please someone give me the number where I can invest in a production company that makes films for $500,000 and gets $6.5 million... on less than a thousand screens... in the first weekend.

    I will happily invest my savings.

    Mock all you want, tomorrow morning there will be more people in Hollywood green lighting more stuff like this and finding out how they can get in on this market.

    Hollywood is about making money. If you can make people laugh, or think, or cry, or angry, then great. If you get an Oscar, then you're a winner. But at the end of the day, it's about money. That's why you see a guy like Kevin Smith bemoaning how he can't get his film Red State made... but not taking a loan to pay for it himself (which he could certainly get). It's because he doesn't want to lose his money.

    I don't know Kirk Cameron, but if I was him I'd be asking for gross points in lieu of upfront on his family values flick.
  • Jamie
    That should have read:

    "I don’t know Kirk Cameron, but if I was him I’d be asking for gross points in lieu of upfront on his next family values flick.
  • Matt
    kirk cameron beats spike lee

    now spike lee will want to make his own version of fireproof and then he will call out kirk cameron. suddenly his version of fireproof will bomb and then it will be deja vu all over again
  • Domino
    “Faith-based “Action Squads” bought up blocks of tickets.”
    So does this mean this mean they gamed the stats? If thats the case then whatever, its like when they bombard the networks with millions of emails from the same 20 people to make it look like they have a huge following. Its sleazy, but I'll sleep a lot better knowing these figures are inflated and not representative of how many people actually saw this crap. Please tell me thats the case...
  • rick
    the way it works is just like getting a ticket to see the grateful dead. "Ticket Links" and other such companies buy bulks of tickets and sell them to the public....sometimes radio stations will get several hundred for promotional events.......working the same way; churches and other Christ based groups will buy up big numbers of tickets in order to cover the number of people in there congregation that wants to see the event. I'm sure there are people that buy a ticket that doesn't get to go (just like the grateful dead) but I'm sure they didn't spend hard earned money just to make God awesome....He doesn't need the help in that department.....is this something that you reaaally needed an explaination for anyway.
  • Jeff says "Have you ever heard of The Passion of the Christ or The Chronicles of Narnia?" Yes, but I'm talking about movie studios setting up mini major specialty divisions to make $1-2 million faith-themed movies, not big blockbusters.

    Screenrant: You can pull the religion card, but to be honest with you, if the film had a great screenplay, I would be supporting it. Peter Jones' Stolen Summer is had more than a half descent screenplay with a positive faith-based message, but was poorly marketed. Problem is 99.9% of message films are poorly written, cliche, but have the ability to make great amounts of money because of lemming church groups.
  • ezekial
    Rock me, rock me, rock me Sexy Jesus.
  • egyptnation
    "Shaped perfectly for entry"
  • Bull
    The guy from Screen Rant is fucking awful, why don't you guys exclude him from you site.

    I remember he got in a fight with me out of nowhere about John McCain (for some reason he thought it was proper to counter-comment with a John McCain reference when I made a comment about the up-coming Bush film). He told me "John McCain always wanted tougher regulations." The next day the headline article on cnn.com was "John McCain moves away from deregulatory policy." He never responded to me my post after that.

    Listen man, I have nothing against Christianity. However, I do not like you. Nice reference to the Holocaust, class act.
  • Necron_99
    What? Athiests mocking and slamming Christians on here? I'm shocked! Shocked I tell you!

    You know, I hear from Rosie Odonell that they are as big a threat to the world as Islamofacists. So how dare those Christian bastards make a film that caters to their audience!

    It's sure a good thing for us that Hollywood would never try and push their own agendas and messages in films and TV like those evil Christians. Whew!
  • TheMarquis
    I'm mildly uncomfortable with the Christian Genocide comments.....

    But in all seriousness. Sure, this film probably has a bad screenplay, from what i've heard. Sure, it's Kirk Cameron. But really, what's so wrong with people looking for faith-based films getting faith-based films? Is it really that surprising when the only game in town gets all the game? Not really. If faith-based isn't your style, that's cool too. I don't have to see shit like Blank Movie, so i don't. I'm not a big faith-based movie guy either, so I won't be seeing Fireproof. No big. But ridicule? That's ridiculous in and of itself.

    What we've learned?
    Intelligent, dramatic films that make money from intelligent, dramatic movie watchers = fine and dandy.
    Christian films that make money from christian movie wathchers = ABSURD!
    Gimme a break.
  • John
    TheMarquis: Wrong. The lesson is:

    Bad movies = shouldn't be made
    good movies = fine and dandy

    I would have no problem with a message movie if it was good.
  • Domino
    As a Christian I take offense to nonsense like the Banana bullshit and other Creationist propaganda being used as representative of Christian views and ideologies. It's ridiculous that there is an implied disconnect now from science and religion and even more scary how embedded some of these so called theories are in this country. It's scary that the Sarah Palin's and David Chen's (just kidding) of the world believe the earth is 6000 years old and humans and dinosaurs interacted, I mean ARE YOU SERIOUS? How much time has to be wasted and how to you even begin to undo the damage being done by this line of thought?
  • silver
    As a christian, you shouldn't be using the word 'bull*hit". Just a thought.
  • Chromey
    The quote was "If you want to send a message, call Western Union"... and it's commonly attributed to Sam Goldwn, not Mayer.
  • @Bull

    Remember in my previous comment where I said my respect for you went up a notch? I take it back.

    @chris_sc77

    You obviously missed the point of my post, and you are a scary person besides.

    @Pete

    Aw, come on, bro... look what I did for your comment count. :-P

    Vic
  • Steelo
    Well I don't know about the banana bit, but if you know your market anything can happen man.
  • Dr. Acula
    Aww man... This just makes me more ancy for Maher's "Religulous".
    I really hope an organized, acknowledged atheist movement comes about in the next few years.
  • Kip
    best.video.ever

    You put RAPTOR JESUS into a faith based firefighter film and I'll go see that. I'll buy a block of tickets myself. The music business has been like this for year, Christian bands do great with cd sales and tours. So I guess theres enough neo cons out there with ten bucks in their hands to make a difference.
  • Allynd D
    Worship the almighty Banana.
    I give the my love and heart oh great fruit of creation for you hath been peeled for my sins.
  • Jeremy
    Not really sure why the Christians that make films never understood that art asks questions, not answers them...
  • VegaBro
    I thought I linked that video earlier on in an article or in the chat. Where are my props?









    Anyway, watching that video is quite easily one of the most persuasive arguments toward god's non-existence.
  • dnlchisholm
    Before I posted, I noticed the commenting rules. Rule #1: No hate speech allowed. Wouldn't suggesting rounding up Christians and putting them in camps qualify as hate speech or are Christians truly the only unprotected minority left in this country?

    As for the movie, I can see no logical reason for so many people to be mad that it did well other than you are afraid that the movie made some points so well that it will change viewers. This movie is that powerful. When I saw it Saturday night, I heard a lot of crying and not just from women. This movie is the first movie I have ever been to that caused multiple men to cry. Then, as we were leaving the packed theater, every married couple I saw was holding hands and that was a moment I won't soon forget.
  • VegaBro
    Two things idiot. Christians are not a minority in this country, and they are very protected. Plus there is really no reason they should be. And Slashfilm just dont put up with that bullshit.
  • Martin
    Christians LOVE to rake in the cash don't they? Isn't that what it's all about?
  • John S.
    @ dnlchisholm:

    #1. Christians are not a minority. They are a vast majority over any other religion in the United States.

    #2. Real men DO NOT CRY.
  • well the whole block ticket thing is sure being misunderstood.... I personally bought a "block" of 53 tickets for 53 wonderful members of our little congregation of about 75. they all came away blessed and very satisfied with having invested $4 (including fandango's 25% markup for internet purchase), into Sherwood's endevour to put out a "low budget" clean, inspiring film.

    i am amused by the jealousy that is displayed by the Hollywood faithfuls, and their "rant" that these values should not be allowed to be displayed. I know that if Cameron's "Caleb" personage would have dumped his girl and hooked up with one of the brothers from the fire house... these "faithfuls" would have been on their feet and bought up some up blocks for themselves....

    I also maintain that there exists a certain fear that Sherwood might actually be capable of wielding more influence that Hollywood, and thus must be stopped at all costs.... even if it means lampooning, even cursing such a fine cast and crew as the Sherwood bunch.

    Hats off to Alex and Co.
  • dnlchisholm
    Martin, the makers of Fireproof are donating ALL of the profits from the film just like they did with the money from Facing the Giants.

    John S, Christians may be the largest religious group in the United States, but they are still a minority. Women are considered a protected minority and they make up over 50% of the population. I don't want to get into statistics here, but church-going Christians makeup less than 50% of the United States and that's besides the point of talking about why they are allowed to be attacked so feely.
  • aj
    ugh. Radical Christians like Kirk Cameron bug me.
blog comments powered by Disqus
gorilla nation

/Film

Copyright © 2009 /Film. Web design by Pro Blog Design. Logo Concept by: Illumination Ink

All names, trademarks and images are copyright their respective owners.