Sellouts help 'Courageous' shock Hollywood

Oct 3, 2011
by Michael Foust
ALBANY, Ga.

 (BP) -- Thanks to sold-out theaters from coast to coast, Sherwood Baptist Church once again shocked Hollywood over the weekend when its latest film "Courageous" finished No. 4 in total gross, No. 1 among new movies and No. 1 in per-theater average, nearly doubling most of the competition in that category.

Its $9,063,147 ended up fourth behind "Dolphin Tale," Moneyball" and "The Lion King 3D." But all three of those other films -- and every other film in the Top 10 -- played in at least 2,300 theaters, significantly more than Courageous, which opened in only 1,161 theaters and still beat three new films with much bigger budgets and far more screens -- "50/50," "Dream House" and "What's Your Number?" While Courageous' production budget was $1 million, the average budget of the other films in the Top 10 was $41 million.

Courageous' per-theater average of $7,806 blew out the competition, with The Lion King 3D's $4,537 coming in second. Courageous follows the story of five men -- four of them police officers -- as they seek to become better fathers. the rest

More than 1 million people saw it on opening weekend.