Courageous is running number 1 at the box office

[Visionoyahweh]

I could see them making a movie about a pregnant woman who contemplates abortion but then finds Jesus and decides not to, and they all live happily ever after. There could be a newly-married woman with a life-threatening pregnancy, maybe even an ectopic pregnancy. Her husband is either cheating, doing some white-collar crimes, or is an alcoholic. Her evil secular doctors tell her that she has a 99% chance of dying if she continues this pregnancy. Her mother and friends tell her that she is no position to have a baby with such a rocky marriage. But then, she meets Hero Pastor at a party, or maybe he's even a street preacher that she actually takes seriously. She wants to know more about Jesus, who of course she has never heard about before in spite of growing up in the United States. Maybe it's even around Christmas time so she can learn the true meaning of Christmas. She finally decides to risk her life and not have an abortion. Whatever health issue she had goes south, and goes to the hospital with firm orders to let her die before having an abortion. She prays rilly rilly hard and trusts Jesus to save her. Her husband finally gets word that she's in critical condition (it was hard to find him because of his illicit activities) and rushes to the hospital. Of course the woman and baby miraculously survive, and the husband repents and becomes a wonderful father because he is so moved by his perfect son.

That's awesome! Stop doing the writing for them! ;)

After that movie, maybe we'll see a gay guy who meets Jesus at a foam party and goes from effeminate to super hetero dad!

ETA:

From the AVclub review:

A scene where a father takes his 15-year-old daughter to a fancy restaurant alone and gives her a heart-shaped ring granting him veto power over all her dates for perpetuity would come across as creepy even if the daughter didn’t later lovingly admire her ring in bed like a gold-digger adoring her sugar-daddy’s gaudy gift. Courageous deifies fatherhood and fathers when it would be better off treating its central striver like a flawed human being instead of a paper saint.

[bananacat]

Visionoyahweh (love the name BTW), I don't know what a foam party is but it's too bad I didn't think of the reformed gay angle. So instead of being an alcoholic, the pregnant woman's husband is being "recruited" by the gay lifestyle. In this case he has a daughter, just to make sure it's not creepy.

I could also write a sequel about the girl who gets a purity ring. Here goes:

Said girl is at first thrilled to get her purity ring. As she goes through her teen years, she faces temptation to date and have sex, just like the typical cliched movie. But when she gets to the age of about 21, that's when the real drama starts. She meets a man who seems fantastic, and wants to marry him. Daddy says no and she is heartbroken. She never sees the man again. She continues to live at home and resents her father, going so far as to stop wearing the ring and hiding it so she doesn't have to look at it. She pretty much gives up on dating. All of her friends start getting married and having babies and she is overcome with yearning and jealousy. She'll never rebel enough to actually go against her dad, but she is feeling very depressed about everything and is just going through the motions, especially when it comes to church. She starts questioning her faith. Then one day her church's pastor retires or dies, and is replaced a new one. He's conveniently about 35 years old, but tragically widowed with 2 kids who need a mommy. Since she has sworn off dating, she never considers anything romantic about him. They get to know each other in a completely platonic way, and he rekindles her passion for Jesus. Over the course of several weeks or months, her faith is renewed. One day she is baby-sitting the new pastor's kids, and they become mischievous, dig up her long-forgotten purity ring, and throw it at her playfully. She decides right that second wear the ring again and to trust her daddy again and be satisfied with being single forever if that's what Dad and God want. Of course you can all see where this is going. When the pastor comes to pick up his kids later, it turns out he needed a baby-sitter because he was shopping for diamond rings. Daddy comes home early from work to be there, and the pastor proposes to her. She wears the engagement ring right on top of the purity ring, seeing that they coordinate perfectly. She doesn't take off the purity ring until the actual wedding ceremony. She finally gets her husband and even an instant family. But the story doesn't end here. A year later, her father tragically dies in an accident. Luckily for her, her husband had to deal with the death of his first wife and can help her through this tragic time. The day of the funeral comes and there are two surprises. First she finds out she is pregnant. Then, as she is helping her mom pack up her father's stuff, she finds out some secret about that man she wanted to marry all those years ago. Either he's a criminal, an atheist, or a bad provider for his wife. It turns out that her father new this all along and prevented her from marrying a horrible guy and she should have just trusted him all along. Cut scene to the birth of their first baby, and of course it's a boy that they name after her late father.

[demgirl]

Box Office estimates for the weekend:

boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/

Courageous was beaten by a dolphin with no tail, a lion with no father, that baseball movie, and the cancer flick.

[desertvixen]

And of course, there would be a tie-in novel, devotional book, and study guide available as well, just as there was with Fireproof and Courageous.

Don't forget Fireproof!: The Marriage Seminar

http://www.fireproofmymarriage.com/

My unit is actually doing one of these Fireproof My Marriage seminars this weekend, but I don't think the one person I know who was looking at it actually went.

[FuManchu]

They get the manly theme so wrong that one shudders to think what a mass they'd make of women's issues.

Of course, they could argue that you should stick to what you know, so as an all-male team they shouldn't try to speak for women. The only problem with that argument is that they don't appear to believe that women should have jobs of any kind, let alone direct, so in their ideal world such female-oriented films would never be made by anyone who actually understood the woman's point of view.

[gilora]

Isn't this the time of year when movie studios release the dregs of the year's collection? It's too late for the summer season and too early for Oscar bait. I would guess that there isn't too much competition to Courageous right now.

[Visionoyahweh]

I don't know what a foam party is but it's too bad I didn't think of the reformed gay angle.

They're pretty much what they sound like:

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... Foam_party

I like your story but can one-up it. Girl gets purity ring @12 but is tempted into having sex after a feminist tricks her into thinking abortion is cool. Daddy finds out during the nightly hymen inspection. HE gets angry, throws her in the street, and she dies of starvation. This all happens in the first 10 minutes. The other 80 minutes the audience watches her body slowly decompose into dust. SEX KILLS flashes on the screen. Roll credits. :clap:

ETA:

They should just make Hell House as a real movie

[GeoBQn]

Don't forget Fireproof!: The Marriage Seminar

http://www.fireproofmymarriage.com/

They encourage businesses have their employees see the movie and attend their seminars? I wonder how many hostile work environment religious discrimination lawsuits THAT lead to.

ETA: Here's the page for the Courageous Action Squad. No wonder it sold so well--they were encouraging individuals to buy 25 tickets to hand out to people, business and ministries to buy 50-100 tickets to people, and churches to buy out an entire show time (200-250 tickets) for their congregations.

http://www.courageousthemovie.com/takeaction

[anniebgood]

According to tonight's entertainment report it's #5 and not with a bullet.

Dolphin Tale 14,2Million

Money Ball 12,5 MIllion

The Lion King 11 Million

50/50 8.858 MIllion

Courageous 8.8 Million

It only opened at 1161 screens averaging about 7800 per screen. Once people see it they may not pony up the money to see it again.

[lilwriter85]

I think at most it will make 10 million dollars. It has gotten better reviews than Fireproof or Saving the Giants. I think it will probably be out of most theaters in a few weeks. When Fireproof was in theaters, a couple of theaters in my area only ran it for two weeks. A friend of mine was working in one of theaters at the time and she said that it was mostly church groups who went and saw Fireproof.

[GenerationCedarchip]

I just realized that all of the Sherwood Pictures have male protagonists and focus on issues of manliness. Do you think they will ever get around to a movie with a female main character? Or would that be considered inherently unexciting, since the conclusion would ultimately be for her to be a nice submissive wifey? Can't have her be an athlete, firefighter, or cop, since that might give the women in the audience ideas!

Kind of sad. I wonder why Christian movies take such a narrow view. They're way behind inspirational books. If you scan the shelves at a Christian bookstore, you have everything from traditional frontier wives to kickass FBI agents (I've read a few of those - they don't quit their jobs to be subservient to anyone), and lots of pushing the envelope on plotting. The hypertraditional stuff is still out there, but there's a lot more diversity.

[tehgoobster]

According to tonight's entertainment report it's #5 and not with a bullet.

Dolphin Tale 14,2Million

Money Ball 12,5 MIllion

The Lion King 11 Million

50/50 8.858 MIllion

Courageous 8.8 Million

It only opened at 1161 screens averaging about 7800 per screen. Once people see it they may not pony up the money to see it again.

I'm actually kind of surprised that it didn't do better. Fireproof wasn't advertised all that much, but it opened at number 4, and it made nearly $7 million its opening weekend. Fireproof was also released to fewer theaters. My impression is that the vast majority of people who will go to see it/have seen it are already devout evangelical Christians. That said, I'm not sure how it'll do next weekend when many church groups have already seen it.

I just read reviews by the The New York Times and Entertainment Weekly. They both panned it. The biggest complaint is that the movie is too preachy and too heavy-handed. Their target audience doesn't really care about reviews, but I think the negative reviews highlight the fact that they're preaching to the choir. If their goal is to evangelize, they'd do better to be a bit more subtle.

[bananacat]

I'm actually kind of surprised that it didn't do better. Fireproof wasn't advertised all that much, but it opened at number 4, and it made nearly $7 million its opening weekend. Fireproof was also released to fewer theaters. My impression is that the vast majority of people who will go to see it/have seen it are already devout evangelical Christians. That said, I'm not sure how it'll do next weekend when many church groups have already seen it.

I just read reviews by the The New York Times and Entertainment Weekly. They both panned it. The biggest complaint is that the movie is too preachy and too heavy-handed. Their target audience doesn't really care about reviews, but I think the negative reviews highlight the fact that they're preaching to the choir. If their goal is to evangelize, they'd do better to be a bit more subtle.

These types of hyper-Christians (not talking about mainstream ones here) do not handle subtly well. They seem to be really bad at grasping any kind of abstract story-telling, including metaphor and allegory which is also why they insist on young Earth creationism and why they hilariously miss the point of so many Biblical stories. It's like they all slept through 7th grade Language Arts class, because if you present them with anything other than "This is definitely good and this is definitely bad", they freak out.

And regardless of their claim, this movie is absolutely not about "soul-winning" or converting others to their brand of Christianity. They make movies like this so the already converted can watch it and tell themselves that its message is so obvious and that everyone else is just being mean and intentionally not believing them. A lot of "witnessing tools" are really just made so they can feel holier than everyone else, and also to provide some bonding for already-believers against the common threat of hostile people who won't easily convert.

[Avalondaughter]

I just realized that all of the Sherwood Pictures have male protagonists and focus on issues of manliness. Do you think they will ever get around to a movie with a female main character? Or would that be considered inherently unexciting, since the conclusion would ultimately be for her to be a nice submissive wifey? Can't have her be an athlete, firefighter, or cop, since that might give the women in the audience ideas!

What about the movie "C Me Dance"? Wasn't that about the dying Christian girl trying to cross the country performing ballet for the last recitals of her life while persued by a demon who wants her soul? I think even the title of that movie was so dumb that even Christians turned away from it.

[lilwriter85]

I'm actually kind of surprised that it didn't do better. Fireproof wasn't advertised all that much, but it opened at number 4, and it made nearly $7 million its opening weekend. Fireproof was also released to fewer theaters. My impression is that the vast majority of people who will go to see it/have seen it are already devout evangelical Christians. That said, I'm not sure how it'll do next weekend when many church groups have already seen it.

I just read reviews by the The New York Times and Entertainment Weekly. They both panned it. The biggest complaint is that the movie is too preachy and too heavy-handed. Their target audience doesn't really care about reviews, but I think the negative reviews highlight the fact that they're preaching to the choir. If their goal is to evangelize, they'd do better to be a bit more subtle.

There will be a drop off in ticket sales next weekend but I think some church groups or Evangelical Christians will probably go see it if they hadn't. The movie probably isn't running in smaller towns and I could see church groups getting in vans possibly driving to nearby cities to see it. I remember on the Fireproof IMDB board, there was a woman who said that her church got a group of people together to get in a couple of church vans to drive an hour to see the movie.

[lilwriter85]

I just realized that all of the Sherwood Pictures have male protagonists and focus on issues of manliness. Do you think they will ever get around to a movie with a female main character? Or would that be considered inherently unexciting, since the conclusion would ultimately be for her to be a nice submissive wifey? Can't have her be an athlete, firefighter, or cop, since that might give the women in the audience ideas!

I doubt Sherwood Pictures would ever make a movie with a female main character.

[Maggie Mae]

I doubt Sherwood Pictures would ever make a movie with a female main character.

I don't think they will either. First of all, they believe that women should be homemakers. So if they put a woman in the film and took her away from her family for the long hours of filming, that would be on them. So they would have to find a heathen woman who isn't married to be in this hypothetical picture. I don't care how much I want to be famous and in a movie, there is no way I would act in one of their films. They wouldn't work with a heathen anyway, as her sin would pollute them.

I almost want to see this film so I can review it for myself. 31% of the critics at RT liked it, but 94% of the audience? WTH. Can none of their target audience realize that they are being exploited and see the poor production values (based on other reviews and the trailer)

[GeoBQn]

Wait until it comes to your local library. I did that with Fireproof so that I wouldn't have to contribute any money to the filmmakers.

[lilwriter85]

Wait until it comes to your local library. I did that with Fireproof so that I wouldn't have to contribute any money to the filmmakers.

The library is one option. I saw Fireproof with a friend whose uncle is a UMC minister. When it was released on DVD, the church had a movie night in which church members could friends from outside the church. My friend isn't really a fan of the Sherwood Picture movies. We snarked on the movie that night when we out to get coffee. Once in awhile cable channels like GMC or Inspriration will air the movies.

[SquirrelySquirrel]

The library is one option. I saw Fireproof with a friend whose uncle is a UMC minister. When it was released on DVD, the church had a movie night in which church members could friends from outside the church. My friend isn't really a fan of the Sherwood Picture movies. We snarked on the movie that night when we out to get coffee. Once in awhile cable channels like GMC or Inspriration will air the movies.

Comcast had Fireproof in its free OnDemand movies awhile back and I suffered through it just so I can join in on the snark. Would definitely never pay any of my money to see these movies. I don't even have any curiosity about Courageous, though. I think my childhood crush on Mike Seaver is what got me through Fireproof. lol

[marmalade]

Box Office estimates for the weekend:

boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/

Courageous was beaten by a dolphin with no tail, a lion with no father, that baseball movie, and the cancer flick.

Hey, I was an extra in "that baseball movie." :mrgreen:

edited b/c I somehow missed the first quotation mark

[lilwriter85]

Comcast had Fireproof in its free OnDemand movies awhile back and I suffered through it just so I can join in on the snark. Would definitely never pay any of my money to see these movies. I don't even have any curiosity about Courageous, though. I think my childhood crush on Mike Seaver is what got me through Fireproof. lol

Kirk was part of the reason I went to see Fireproof at my friend's church. I figured the movie was going to be bad, but I thought it was a tad better than Facing the Giants. The Sherwood Pictures movies are sometimes funny to watch because the writing is sort of fairy tale like. From what I've read about Courageous it is less fairy tale like. I'lll probably see this movie somehow. I'll call my friend sometime soon to see if her church took a group to see this movie. More than likely they will have a movie night at the church when it gets released. They do annual Fireproof couples and Facing the Giants family movie nights.

[lilwriter85]

One church bought a 1,000 tickets which sounds costly.

http://www.enctoday.com/news/tops-76708 ... geous.html

[MrsYoungie]

It isn't playing in either of the big multi-cinemas near me. I'm about 30 km east of Toronto. It is only playing at one screen of a single cinema in downtown Toronto and 6 more single screens between Scarborough and Burlington. That's a huge area with a population of (I think) over 5.5 million.

So - not big news up here.

[lilwriter85]

It is playing at a 24 screen cineplex in my city. But it was only on 2 screen this weekend. It might end on one screen next weekend. My city is around 600,000 and there are a few well known mega churches and several smaller churches that support Sherwood Pictures. Some of those churches probably organized groups to go see the movies.