{"id":340,"date":"2014-03-25T19:52:54","date_gmt":"2014-03-25T19:52:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/peanutsandpopcorn\/?p=340"},"modified":"2014-03-25T19:59:01","modified_gmt":"2014-03-25T19:59:01","slug":"gods-not-dead-surprises-hollywood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/peanutsandpopcorn\/2014\/03\/gods-not-dead-surprises-hollywood.html","title":{"rendered":"\u2018God\u2019s Not Dead\u2019 Surprises Hollywood"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Kevin<\/a>
Kevin Sorbo stars in “God’s Not Dead,” the surprise hit by Pure Flix Entertainment. (Photo: Pure Flix)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sure, it wasn\u2019t the biggest movie opening last weekend, (That honor went to Divergent<\/i> which made $56 million), but Pure Flix\u2019s faith-based movie God\u2019s Not Dead<\/i> made a fairly big splash anyway and people are noticing including Entertainment Weekly<\/a>. \u201cThe biggest surprise of the weekend is undoubtedly the success of God\u2019s Not Dead<\/i>, an inspirational drama about a college student who defends his belief in God against a non-believing professor,\u201d said Adam Markovitz on the magazine\u2019s website on Monday. \u201cWith no marquee stars (Kevin Sorbo and Dean Cain appear in the film, as does Duck Dynasty star Willie Robertson) and little mainstream press, the film earned $8.6 million from just 780 theaters.\u201d Variety also referred to the movie as the \u201cbiggest shocker\u201d of the week.<\/p>\n

This is similar to the success of the 2012 faith-based film, October Baby<\/i>. When that film debuted in March of that year, it came in 8th<\/sup> place making just $1.7 million its opening weekend, but its competition was shown in ten times as many theaters. In both cases the movies were promoted mostly by word-of-mouth through social media. For instance, I wrote an article about God\u2019s Not Dead<\/i> last November (\u2018God\u2019s Not Dead\u2019 \u2013 4 Reasons to Support this Film<\/a>) and someone from Pure Flix liked it and sent out a \u201ctweet\u201d on Twitter with a link to the article. To this day, I receive one or two tweets that someone has favorited the tweet or is reposting a Pinterest photo of the movie\u2019s poster. Apparently bargain basement advertising can work. It doesn\u2019t hurt that the movie\u2019s theme song has already been a hit for Newsboys and many are aware of it.<\/p>\n

Ironically, Pure Flix\u2019s website<\/a> is taking the humble approach with no box office bragging. Only a splash page telling everyone that the film is playing now. Make no mistake; this is a big deal for the Arizona company. Led by actor and managing partner David A. R. White (who also has a small role in the film), Pure Flix is known for making many movies each year, but most get sent directly to video. However, the Pure Flix Facebook page<\/a>, which have over 1 million \u201clikes\u201d did provide a link to a press release yesterday about the. It states that the movie will be extended to about 1,000 theaters for this coming weekend. In the press release<\/a> he is quoted as saying, \u201cDemand for God\u2019s Not Dead<\/i> in the faith-based community has been significant because the message is culturally relevant to millions of Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is much talk about how Hollywood has embraced biblical themes as of late. Son of God<\/i> opened with $25.6 million during its opening week and Darren Aronofsky\u2019s Noah<\/i> has been so controversial, that it is bound to do well this weekend. Right on their heels is Heaven is for Real<\/i> which will be playing Easter weekend. Let\u2019s see how long this trend will last.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sure, it wasn\u2019t the biggest movie opening last weekend, (That honor went to Divergent which made $56 million), but Pure Flix\u2019s faith-based movie God\u2019s Not Dead made a fairly big splash anyway and people are noticing including Entertainment Weekly. \u201cThe biggest surprise of the weekend is undoubtedly the success of God\u2019s Not Dead, an inspirational…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":558,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[79,78,321,324,75,323,77,1091,319,245,322,320],"class_list":["post-340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-david-a-r-white","tag-dean-cain","tag-entertainment-weekly","tag-faith-based-movies","tag-gods-not-dead","tag-heaven-is-for-real","tag-kevin-sorbo","tag-movies","tag-newsboys","tag-noah","tag-october-baby","tag-variety"],"yoast_head":"\n\u2018God\u2019s Not Dead\u2019 Surprises Hollywood - 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