{"id":1386,"date":"2011-10-05T21:01:59","date_gmt":"2011-10-06T01:01:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/faithmediaandculture\/?p=1386"},"modified":"2011-10-05T21:01:59","modified_gmt":"2011-10-06T01:01:59","slug":"by-the-numbers-sherwood-pictures-faith-based-courageous-is-a-hit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2011\/10\/by-the-numbers-sherwood-pictures-faith-based-courageous-is-a-hit.html","title":{"rendered":"By the numbers, Sherwood Pictures’ faith-based “Courageous” is a hit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here’s today’s dispatches from the crossroads of faith, media and culture.<\/p>\n

1. Courageous stats. <\/em><\/strong>The box office strength of faith-based films continues to surprise Hollywood.\u00a0 Here are some interesting numbers regarding Courageous, the new Sherwood Pictures release about cops struggling with gang violence and their own parental responsibilities.<\/p>\n

ONE<\/strong>: That’s its among new movies debuting over the weekend. The final tally has Courageous<\/em> beating out Summit Entertainment’s 50\/50<\/em>, Universal’s Dream House <\/em>and Fox’s What’s Your Number? <\/em><\/p>\n

FOUR:<\/strong>\u00a0 That’s the movie’s ranking among all movies in the country last weekend. It was beaten only by three extremely popular holdovers that include Warner Bros.’ Dolphin Tale<\/em>, Sony’s Moneyball\u00a0 <\/em>and the 3-D version of Disney’s 17-year-old family classic The Lion King<\/em>. Dolphin Tale<\/em>, BTW, was also an uplifting family film aimed at families. Even the PG-13-rated Moneyball<\/em>\u00a0 had a certain family appeal.<\/p>\n

ONE MILLION PLUS:<\/strong> That’s how many people saw Courageous<\/em> in theaters over the weekend.<\/p>\n

NINE-MILLION PLUS: <\/strong>That’s the number of dollars Courageous <\/em>earned in its opening weekend. That’s also more two-million dollars north of what Sherwood Pictures’ Fireproof\u00a0 <\/em>raked in during its first weekend in 2008. Fireproof<\/em>, went on to become that year’s top-grossing independently-produced film.<\/p>\n

Here’s where the above numbers become even more astounding.<\/p>\n

7,806: <\/strong>According to Box Office Mojo<\/a>, that’s the number of bucks Courageous <\/em>pulled in per screen. That’s nearly double its closest competitor (The Lion King<\/em>). FYI, Courageous<\/em> opened in 1,161 theaters nationally. Compare that to how many theaters its competition was playing in:\u00a0 A Dolphin Tale <\/em>(3,515), Moneyball <\/em>(2,993), The Lion King <\/em>(2,340), 50\/50 (2,458), Dream House <\/em>(2,661) <\/em>and What’s Your Number? <\/em>(3,002).<\/p>\n

254,309<\/strong>: As of this posting, that’s the number of “likes”<\/em> on the Courageous Facebook page<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A+: <\/strong>Okay, not a number — but that’s the impressive (and, relatively, rare) grade Courageous <\/em>received from audience-goers\u00a0 polled by CinemaScore. That’s a strong signal that word-of-mouth is likely to propel the movie to healthy box office numbers in the coming weeks. In other words, Courageous <\/em>appears to have legs.<\/p>\n

Richard Corliss of Time.com may have summed things up best in its recap of the weekend box office headlined “Surprise! Dolphins and Jesus Beat Cancer and Dead Kids.”<\/em><\/a> Corliss wrote: “Like the Christian-themed Soul Surfer, the <\/em>(Alex) Kendrick’s holy-cop film (with a $1-million budget) was pitched to the faithful, who came out fervently this weekend and gave it an A-plus CinemaScore. Opening in just 1,161 theaters, Courageous had the top per-screen average of any movie in the top 25. Even an agnostic would call that heavenly.”<\/em><\/p>\n

The evidence is becoming harder for Hollywood to ignore. The audience is hungry for faith-friendly entertainment. The time is coming when even “edgy” obsessed TV executives will have to get with the times and stop shoving bombs like the\u00a0 Playboy Club<\/em><\/a> at audiences that are seeking something a bit more uplifting than a bunny’s bra.<\/p>\n

Encourage one another and build each other up \u2013 <\/em>1 Thessalonians 5:11<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here’s today’s dispatches from the crossroads of faith, media and culture. 1. Courageous stats. The box office strength of faith-based films continues to surprise Hollywood.\u00a0 Here are some interesting numbers regarding Courageous, the new Sherwood Pictures release about cops struggling with gang violence and their own parental responsibilities. ONE: That’s its among new movies debuting…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":225,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,13,24,1],"tags":[35,1611,1617,1613,1616,77,1614,1608,1610,690,1615,1605,1612,1606,1607,1609],"class_list":["post-1386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-family-matters","category-movies","category-uncategorized","tag-1-thessalonians-511","tag-3-d-version-of-disneys-17-year-old-family-classic-the-lion-king","tag-alex-kendricks-holy-cop-film","tag-box-office-mojo","tag-christian-themed-soul-surfer","tag-cinemascore","tag-courageous-facebook-page","tag-foxs-whats-your-number","tag-onys-moneyball","tag-playboy-club","tag-richard-corliss-of-time-com","tag-sherwood-pictures-faith-based-courageous","tag-sherwood-pictures-fireproof","tag-summit-entertainments-5050","tag-universals-dream-house","tag-warner-bros-dolphin-tale"],"yoast_head":"\nBy the numbers, Sherwood Pictures' faith-based "Courageous" is a hit<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2011\/10\/by-the-numbers-sherwood-pictures-faith-based-courageous-is-a-hit.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"By the numbers, Sherwood Pictures' faith-based "Courageous" is a hit\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here’s today’s dispatches from the crossroads of faith, media and culture. 1. 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He has written over 100 children's novels based on episodes of the Cartoon Network series \"Ben 10\", \"Ben 10: Alien Force\", \"Ben 10: Ultimate Alien\", \"Ben 10: Omniverse\" and \"Generator Rex\" among others. He also writes Beliefnet\u2019s \"Faith, Media & Culture\" blog. Previously, he has produced successful news and talk programming for CNN, Fox News, Pax TV and SiriusXM. Specialties: Script Writing, Movie\/TV Novelizations & Adaptations, TV Content Creation and Development, Creative Consultation, Producing and Booking News and Talk shows. 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