Kirk Cameron: King of the Box Office

[summer]

movies.yahoo.com/blogs/movie-talk/kirk-cameron-documentary-proves-unstoppable-box-office-174317468.html

The most bankable star at the box office right now? Hugh Jackman? Nope. Vin Diesel? Uh-uh. Oprah? Sorry.

The answer is Mike Seaver Kirk Cameron.

The 42-year-old "Growing Pains" alum released his faith-based documentary titled "Unstoppable" for just one night in theaters on Tuesday. Now the numbers are in, and it turns out the film grossed more than a whopping $2 million, according to Rentrak figures, on just 700 screens.

"I am very excited," Cameron told Yahoo Movies on Friday.

That's around the same one-night take that the Jackman-Jake Gyllenhaal drama "Prisoners" pulled ($2.2 million, but on nearly five times as many screens — 3,260 — than Cameron's film), per Box Office Mojo.

So, what is "Unstoppable" and how did it prove to be an unstoppable force?

Inspired by the death of Cameron's close friend Matthew Sandgren, who was only 15 years old when he succumbed to cancer, "Unstoppable" deals with the issue of why God allows bad things to happen to good people, and how tragedy has made Cameron's faith stronger. "It's tackling a philosophical question ... a real stumper," Cameron explained.

"I'm really close with the Sandgren family," Cameron told Yahoo. He received a text this week from Matthew's mother Marci who said she took heart in the fact that "Unstoppable" is keeping her son's memory alive now and "for eternity." Matthew's father simply told Cameron: "Perfect." (Matthew also left behind an older sister, Kylee.) "[Matthew's] family loves God and prays to God and they are still in church," Cameron told Fox in August, adding, "My grandfather is in the hospital right now, and we look at the Boston bombing, and school shootings, and this is a question that has destroyed some people's faith. ... How can God allow these things to happen, and that is what I seek to uncover in this film. What should have destroyed my faith, made it stronger."

[Related: Kirk Cameron's 'Unstoppable' Trailer Was Lost, Now Found]

"The release strategy was unique," Cameron told Yahoo! of his film's surprise success. The Tuesday screening was billed as a "live event" and sold more than 150,000. In addition to showing "Unstoppable," Cameron presented several musical acts and led a question and answer session from the campus of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. "I think it is an underserved audience," he added, saying that mainstream Hollywood isn't targeting his and other niche groups.

When it comes to the numbers, Cameron is psyched. "This is just one small step in the world of big box office," he told Yahoo of his independent film. He also cited other faith-based indies that have paved the way, including, 2008's sleeper hit "Fireproof," in which Cameron starred. That film earned nearly $7 million in its opening weekend.

Movie City News box-office analyst Len Klady told Yahoo Movies that Cameron's very public role as Christian evangelical helped get out the word: "This was heavily promoted through religious groups, setting up an awareness of the film in advance." Meanwhile, Hollywood.com's Paul Dergarabedian tells us the power of Cameron is well-documented: "He's built a tremendous amount of clout and credibility and devotion from his fans. He has developed a strong following among people who say current Hollywood films don't suit their tastes or values. Clearly, his audience loves him."

"Unstoppable" also had a relatively low ticket price: While a recent presentation of the Metropolitan Opera's production of "Carmen" grossed nearly as much as "Unstoppable," distributor NCM Fathom charged $22 for the opera, and only $12.50 for Cameron's flick.

"The fact that it did $2 million is better than something usually does in these situations," Klady said. "$1 million is very good, and $500-, $600-, or $700,000 is more common." Dergarabedian agrees, "For a one-day gross, that's really strong. $2 million into 700 theaters, that's a very strong per-screen average."


"Unstoppable" previously courted controversy in July when YouTube and Facebook briefly banned the film's trailer. YouTube took down the preview after several users complained that it violated the website's policies against "spam, scams, and commercially deceptive content," while Facebook insisted the film's page on the social media site was taken down simply because of a technical glitch. Cameron led a campaign to have the film's presence on both sites restored, which helped bring greater publicity to the project.

NCM Fathom says the "Unstoppable" event was the most successful one-nighter in their history (Fathom has also brought to theaters concerts by the Rolling Stones, performances by the Metropolitan Opera Company, and the recent Floyd Mayweather-Canelo Alvarez prizefight.)

An encore presentation of "Unstoppable" has been scheduled for October 3. In the meantime, Cameron is working on his next project, a movie about Little League baseball through his production company CamFam Studios.

[doctordonna]

His career must be fireproof.

[sushi]

[sushi]

Pretend this is Kirk Cameron, not captain Kirk.

[meshaliuknits]

Sept 27, 2013 17:44:37 GMT -5 sushi said:

Pretend this is Kirk Cameron, not captain Kirk.

[Velar Fricative]