And there’s a unity among the churches: “We had 85 churches rise up and support us in the making of the film”.
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War Room was the country’s second highest grossing film this past weekend, with $11.4 million in domestic receipts.
Producer Kendrick said he and his brother are feeding a hunger among evangelical Christians for films that promote faith and morality. Each of those films had been successful for its genre upon being released, but did not receive the amount of attention War Room has been getting. They met in the lobby, began talking, a prayer time broke out, and then they just started praising God with song in the atrium of this theater”, Kendrick said, “linking arms and praying together, and with the theater employees going ‘What in the world is going on here?’ It was like a church service.
During a live interview with the filmmakers of the new Christian movie that has soared in the USA box office, KBAK/KBFX anchor Aaron Perlman choked up while he described how much the film impacted his own life.
Well-intentioned and honest, many faith films falter because they are heavy-handed, amateurish in places and contain plot elements that are real groaners. But instead, “Once I Was a Beehive” is a charming little comedy with dramatic underpinnings, wisely told from the point of view of someone who is unfamiliar with the culture’s quirks.
Analysts stated it was the newest instance of the facility of spiritual audiences who have been ready to disregard poor critiques to hunt out movies with a Christian message.
“I applaud the Kendrick Brothers, for casting a multiplicity of African Americans in lead roles”.
“It had been a prayer of mine to be able to use my gifts on a Christian project”, said Abercrombie, whose acting credits includes roles off Broadway and on TV.
A lot of faith films pass through Salt Lake theaters every year, including Mormon-centric movies that don’t travel much farther afield than this immediate region. Made for the cost of a typical Blumhouse film, these penny productions are even more impressive than the horror flicks, as they don’t require an aggressive TV/print campaign. Churchgoers and pastors have also spread the word about “War Room” and similar films via social media and the pulpit. Too often, he said, secular movies dishonor marriage, devalue life, and trample on religious faith. He said an elderly lady grabbed a young man who bought a ticket for an R rated movie and bought him a ticket.
Film critics have been underwhelmed by the Kendricks’ films, including “War Room“, which got positive reviews from just 29 percent of those critics featured on the Rotten Tomatoes website.
Michael Rechtshaffen of the Los Angeles Times dismissed it as “mighty long-winded and wincingly overwrought”.
Watch Perlman’s interview with the filmmakers of “War Room” below.
Whereas Fireproof had at its heart threats of adultery coming against a marriage, so does War Room. More than 200 church leaders and community organizers showed up. “When you trust in God, he’ll make a difference”.
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Of course secular critics had something to say about the film, mostly in the form of negative reviews. “(Nor do) we really believe prayer works, because if we really did, we would actually pray and pray more. “Captive,” also filmed in North Carolina, is a redemption story starring David Oyelowo (Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.in “Selma”) as a jail escapee who is exposed to Pastor Rick Warren’s “The goal Driven Life” by a woman he kidnaps.
