Actor/writer/director Alex Kendrick and his brother, producer
Stephen Kendrick, did exactly what you would expect devout Christians to do
when it came to their latest film, "War Room."
They prayed for
it to succeed.
"We thought
we had a shot at the top five but didn't expect to be near the top," Alex Kendrick told The Wrap. "The response has been incredible!
We've been overwhelmed with people who were inspired and moved by the
film."
In some ways,
his prayers were answered: The low-budget film edged out the much more widely
released "Straight Outta Compton" for the top spot at the box office
over the Labor Day weekend, though experts say the weekend was a bit of a slow
one.
Some might call
it a faith-based David versus the secular Goliaths in the entertainment
industry.
At a time when
some in the Christian community feel left out of the political landscape and
ignored by Hollywood, faith-based films are answering a call.
"There is
so much love for this film," Rory
Bruer, Sony's distribution chief, told the New York Post."It
starts with the Kendricks. They're visionaries in this genre."
For the Kendrick
brothers themselves, it starts with faith. Alex
Kendrick told the site I Am Secondthat he grew up loving films,
despite the fact that he and his siblings did not have a great deal of exposure
to pop culture.
"As a boy,
for years, we did not have a television. Our parents were pretty
conservative," he said. "We were able to see on occasion ... a
family-friendly movie at the theater. I remember being so enamored with these
huge stories on screen."
After filming a few home movies as a youngster, Alex Kendrick
pursued faith-based filmmaking as an adult.
In 2006, he
said, he struggled to find a distributor for his second film,"Facing the
Giants." A music company whose song he sought permission to use reached
out to say that not only could the song be used, but its parent company, Sony,
wanted to release the film.
"The one
door we had not knocked on," he said. "God opened a door we could not
have opened."
The film
flourished despite a small budget and showing in only a few hundred theaters.
The brothers' company, Sherwood Pictures, went on to produce
"Fireproof" in 2008 and "Courageous" in 2011, both of which
found greater audiences: "Fireproof" made more than $33 million at
the box office, and "Courageous" made more than $35 million.
But "War
Room" has been the brothers' most high-profile project to date.
Made on a $3
million budget, the movie earned $12.6 million over the four-day holiday. The
Kendricks have relied on a grass-roots marketing plan that includes Bible
studies tied to the film and outreach to church leaders.
"We intentionally showed the film to pastors and community
leaders to get their support," Alex Kendrick told the Washington Post. "Our bull's-eye audience are
people of faith and the church, and we are trying to call them to a more
devoted and sincere walk and that they express faith with conviction and
sincerity."
Kendrick, who
directed "War Room," knows the importance of such an audience from
his work as a former associate pastor of Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany,
Georgia.
The strategy
been working, drawing endorsements from such Christian heavy-hitters as
Franklin Graham.
And the movie about a seemingly perfect couple who must use
faith to deal with the battles in their lives has apparently struck a nerve.
The "War Room" refers to praying strategically, and in the film, one
of the characters has a room where she does just that.
During an
interview with KBAK/KBFX in Bakersfield, California, reporter Aaron Perlman
broke down in tears. He told the Kendrick brothers that the film changed his
life.
"Immediately
after this movie, I went home, ripped out everything in my closet and made my
own war room," Perlman said.
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