“The Forge” finishes fifth at box office in opening weekend

“The Forge,” the latest faith-based movie from the Kendrick brothers, ranked No. 5 at the box office in its opening weekend. Spurred by pre-opening sales and churches, the movie earned $6.6 million despite playing in only 1,818 theaters compared with more than 3,000 theaters for the four films ranked above it.

Made for only $5 million, “The Forge” beat the new $50 million movie “The Crow,” which grossed $4.6 million and finished No. 8, according to estimates. The $3,630 per-theater average for The Forge was No. 3 among all movies.

It’s unknown if the Kendrick film will manage to stay in the top five this weekend as the highly-anticipated “Reagan” opens to high acclaim on Friday, Aug. 30. Starring Dennis Quaid, the film follows the life of Ronald Reagan, covering the 40th president’s chaotic childhood, his faith and commitment to family, and key moments in American foreign policy under his leadership.

Meanwhile, the “The Forge’s” A+ CinemaScore grade made director Alex Kendrick only the fourth director in film history to earn a perfect score, joining fellow faith-based filmmaker Jon Erwin, who also has four movies with A+ CinemaScores. The other Kendrick movies that scored an A+ were “Overcomer “(2019), “War Room” (2015) and “Courageous” (2011).

READ: Priscilla Shirer talks about The Forge      

A spin-off to War Room, it stars Cameron Arnett, Priscilla Shirer, Aspen Kennedy, Karen Abercrombie, T.C. Stallings, BJ Arnett, Ken Bevel, Benjamin Watson, Jonathan Evans, Jerry Shirer, and Tommy Woodard.The movie tells the story of an irresponsible young man who transforms into a responsible individual under the mentorship of a wise older mentor. Stephen Kendrick, the producer of “The Forge,” said he and his brother judge a film’s success not on box office numbers but on its impact on souls.

“The world has their box office numbers, and if that represents souls and lives, then yes and amen to reaching as many people as possible with the gospel,” he told media outlets. “For us, one of the issues is: Did we obey what God told us to do? And did we leave it all in the field and give him a worthy offering?

“Big picture, though, we’re hoping and praying that the church will be strengthened, the lost will be saved, the gospel will go forth. It’s hard to kind of calculate and measure that, but when you hear from people around the world sharing how the movies have changed their lives, it gives us a little foretaste of maybe what’s to come.”

–Alan Goforth | Metro Voice