'Courageous' Is Number One Among Newest Movies

By Jeff Schapiro, Christian Post Reporter Tuesday, October 04, 2011

Early estimates of this past weekend's box office numbers showed the faith-based film “Courageous” finishing second only to “50/50” among new releases, but the official numbers are out and “Courageous” is No. 1 among new films.

Finishing fourth overall for the entire weekend, “Courageous” took in more than $9 million total and bested “50/50” by more than $400,000, according to boxofficemojo.com.

The three films that finished better than “Courageous” were “Dolphin Tale” ($13.9 million), “Moneyball” ($12 million) and the 3D re-release of “The Lion King” ($10.6 million).

Other notable new releases from the weekend included the suspenseful thriller “Dream House,” which took in $8.1 million, and the comedy “What's Your Number?” which took in $5.4 million.

“Courageous” is the story of four men, all law enforcement officers, who pledge to become godly men after one of them goes through a tragic family accident. After the accident, the men make a resolution before God to “take full responsibility” for their wives and children, each of them seeking to love and lead his family as God would want him to.

The film, which features both adrenaline-pumping action sequences and heart-touching moments, is not only impacting the lives of its audience but is also shaking things up in the mainstream movie-dominated box office as well.

Though “Courageous” ranked fourth overall in terms of weekend gross, it ranked first in the average number of dollars it took in per theater. It brought in an average of $7,806 per theater, followed by “The Lion King” at a distant second, which brought in only $4,537 per theater.

The faith-based film was shown in only 1,161 theaters, however, which is less than half the number of theaters most of the weekend's other big-hitters were shown in.

Dollars and cents aside, the movie seems to be making an impact on people's lives.

One Twitter user commented: “an amazing movie!! Cried thru lots of it!! God used this film to encourage, empower me & push me forward!!”

“Just finished #courageousmovie and I'm blown away!” tweeted another. “It's incredible!! You have to see it immediately! Run to the theater!”