Will 'Heaven is for Real' Be a Box Office Success?; Analysis on Recent Christian-Based Films

With the release of "Heaven is For Real," TriStar will bring yet another faith-based film to the marketplace.

Over the past few years, independent companies have released Christian-themed films to great success attracting churchgoers and people who feel neglected by Hollywood. The most recent film was "God's Not Dead," which was released by Freestyle Releasing in March. The film received a grassroots marketing campaign that targeted the faith-based groups. While the movie was blocked from reviews on opening weekend, the film opened with $9.2 million in only 780 theaters.

With a massive opening, Freestyle decided to expand the film into over 1,400 theaters. The result thus far has been $42.2 million and with the holiday season it could continue strongly.

Other big successes that were also similar to this film include "Courageous," which grossed $34.5 million and was released by TriStar, and "Fireproof," which made $33 million and was released by Samuel Goldwyn.

This weekend TriStar will once again tap into this demographic with "Heaven is for Real." The film is slated for a successful weekend for many reasons. The first reason? The movie was budgeted at $12 million and surprisingly boasts a list of recognizable actors. The movie stars Kelly Reilly ("Flight," "Sherlock Holmes"), Thomas Haden Church ("Spider-Man 3," "Sideways"), Greg Kinnear ("Little Miss Sunshine"), and Margo Martindale ("August: Osage County"). 

Another reason—"Heaven is for Real" will open during a holiday weekend when Christians are most religious and interested in seeing Christian stories. The film also deals with resurrection and heaven and Easter also deals with the same themes.

Pundits will argue that reviews will halt the success of the film. "Heaven is for Real" currently has a 52 aggregate score on Rotten Tomatoes, which is not great. However, "Courageous, "God Not Dead" and "Fireproof" all scored terrible reviews and that did not stop them from being successful.    

The final reason for the movie being a box office success? Just look at the box office numbers for "Son of God" ($50 million) and "God's Not Dead" ($41 million). With such triumphs at the box office it is obvious that there is a present audience and with a bigger studio like TriStar backing the movie, it is likely this will be the third Christian film to become a success.

"Heaven is for Real" tells the story of a small-town father who must find the courage and conviction to share his son's extraordinary, life-changing experience with the world. The film was directed by Randall Wallace who is best known for his work on "Secretariat," "The Man in the Iron Mask," and "We Were Soliders." The movie was produced by T.D. Jakes ("Woman Thou Art Loosed") and Joe Roth ("Oz: The Great and Powerful").   

TriStar will release the movie in 2,417 theaters.