'Fireproof' Holds Out for 3rd Top 10 Weekend
Faith-based movie "Fireproof" made the weekend box office top ten for a third consecutive week after initial figures placed it at No. 11.
According to final figures released Monday by Media By Numbers LLC, "Fireproof" grossed $3.14 million over the weekend, edging out "City of Ember," which grossed $3.13 million. Initial estimates had placed "City of Embers" at No. 10 with $3.2 million.
"It's official: Fireproof is once again in the Top 10," exclaimed the film's promoters in their blog Monday night. "It took most of the day Monday for it to become official (in contrast to the estimations you may have read in your Monday newspaper), but it was worth the wait!"
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The weekend figure brings the total gross for "Fireproof" to over $16.9 million – nearly double the last movie produced by Sherwood Pictures, the moviemaking ministry of Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Ga.
"This is a movie that gives people hope and inspires them that they can save their marriages – that love, in the end, won't fail, if you pour your heart and your time and your energy into the things that really matter," actor Kirk Cameron, who plays fireman Caleb Holt in "Fireproof," told the Associated Press.
With a budget five times larger than Sherwood Pictures' last movie, "Facing the Giants," "Fireproof" debuted over the Sept. 26-28 weekend at No. 4 with $6.5 million in ticket sales, marking the year's second highest grossing opening weekend return of any film released on 1,000 screens or less.
The movie, directed and produced by the Kendrick brothers of Sherwood Baptist Church, tells the inspiring story of a fireman and his struggle to save his faltering marriage from ending with his newfound faith and with the help of the "Love Dare," a 40-day spiritual guide that utilizes Scripture to reveal what true love is.
In addition to churchgoers and conservative moviegoers, the film has drawn the support of several national groups including Focus on the Family, Outreach, FamilyLife, The Marriage CoMission, America's Family Coaches, AMFM, Marriage Alive Communications, and MarriageToday. Influential figures such as marriage expert Gary Smalley and Bubba Cathy of Chick-fil-A have also worked to spread word of the movie.
The movie has also spawned a best-selling book that started as a prop.
"The Love Dare," written by the Kendricks, was at No. 4 on Amazon's best-sellers list Tuesday afternoon and was No. 1 on the paperback advice list in the New York Times best-sellers list last week.
"A top-ten movie three weeks running. A No. 1-bestseller … Talk about exceedingly, abundantly," the film's promoters wrote Monday.
The book is currently selling for $14.99 a copy and will be released again in spring 2009 as a special keepsake. The keepsake edition's release will coincide with the DVD release of "Fireproof."
