The Christian film makes its mark after overcoming strong opposition from pro-abortion forces in that country.
The Canadian theatrical run for Unplanned was brief, but effective, ending last week after 20 days in limited release. The movie brought in almost $900,000, which is a good number considering it only played in 49 theaters at its peak.
The film tells the true story of Abby Johnson, a former abortion clinic director who became an outspoken right-to-life advocate, and it initially looked like it wouldn't play at all in Canada. That's because the country's top two distributors rejected it in a move that co-writer/director Chuck Konzelman called "de-facto censorship."
An independent distributor led by a Christian, however, stepped in and brought the picture to Canadian moviegoers. There were protests and even some death threats from the pro-abortion camp, but supporters of life enthusiastically turned out to see it. In fact, they helped make it one of the top movies at the box office on a per-theater-revenue basis for several days running.
The Canadian earnings bring the film's total box office take in North America to $18.97 million, which is a strong number compared to its production budget of just $6 million. And there will soon be more revenue: later this month, Unplanned becomes available for purchase on Blu-ray and DVD.
UPDATE: Turns out we jumped the gun. As of Wednesday, Unplanned was in fact still playing in eight theaters in Canada. We incorrectly reported it had finished its theatrical run because the primary box office reporting sites omitted it for several consecutive days. We apologize for the mistake.
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