The pro-life Christian film's opening weekend defies expert predictions and attempted suppression from opponents in the pro-abortion camp.
The numbers are in and Unplanned is the talk of the town in Hollywood, generating almost $6.4 million this first weekend in theaters, according to Box Office Mojo. That figure is more than twice as much as the low-end predictions from industry watchers.
The performance is also good for fourth place in the overall box office race, which is quite a feat when you consider the picture's playing in only 1,059 theaters. The next lowest theater count among films in the top seven is 2,785. And only two films in the top 10 managed a higher per-theater average than Unplanned's $6,027.
Written and directed by Chuck Konzelman and Cary Solomon, the team behind the God's Not Dead franchise, Unplanned tells the true story of abortion clinic director-turned-pro-life-advocate Abby Johnson. Her inside knowledge of the money-grubbing and reckless conduct of her former employer, Planned Parenthood, makes this film a damning exposé of that abortion industry behemoth's practices.
The weekend numbers are all the more impressive when you consider the onslaught of opposition the film's faced. First, many music labels refused to license songs for use in the movie. Next, it got what many felt was an unduly harsh "R" rating from the Motion Picture Association of America, which we covered here and here. Then its trailer was repeatedly rejected by television networks and, finally, Twitter temporarily suspended the movie's account. And yet, it still managed to produce the second largest opening weekend ever for a Pure Flix distributed film, according to Box Office Mojo.
So after just three days in theaters, Unplanned has also already topped its $6 million production budget, and it should really reap the benefits of that strong debut next weekend. With history as our guide, Christian Film Blog is guessing its theater count will increase somewhere around 30%, and more theaters means more money at the box office. UPDATE: Since this article was published, we have learned it will go up almost 60%...read more via this link.
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