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Faith-based films, while lacking the advertising budgets of bigger titles, often overperform at the box office. Last year, the religious sports drama “Slamma Jamma” grossed over $1 million from 502 theaters, and titles like “Fireproof,” “Courageous,” and “War Room” all grossed over $30 million in recent years, according to Box Office Mojo. “God’s Not Dead” even spawned a franchise after the first installment opened to $9 million from 780 theaters and finished its run with $60 million. This year, “I Can Only Imagine” seems poised to carry on the tradition, as a robust ad campaign on television and online is building buzz about the biopic.

“I Can Only Imagine” is based on the story behind the song of the same name by Christian rock band MercyMe. The Texas-based group released the song in 2001 and it became a rare crossover hit, selling 2.5 million copies to become the best-selling Christian single of all time. The film version follows MercyMe’s lead singer,...

Hungry for fresh nourishment, specialty audiences flocked to new World War II drama “The Zookeeper’s Wife” (Focus Features), directed by Niki Caro and starring Jessica Chastain.

While smart-house moviegoers can be discerning — see Fox Searchlight’s “Wilson” — the holocaust drama overcame modest reviews to score in wider initial release. The dearth of other product should help Focus to find bigger success ahead.

Read More: ‘The Zookeeper’s Wife’ Director Niki Caro Has a Plan for Fighting Hollywood’s Gender Gap

New openings finding niche interest were led by “David Lynch – The Art Life” (Janus) as smaller films continue to struggle.

At a time of dwindling movie ad revenue, streaming service Netflix took out two full-page ads for five films in both the New York Times and Los Angeles Times. They touted four Sundance debuts: “The Discovery” starring Robert Redford and Rooney Mara, which played limited theatrical dates with no grosses reported,...

If you read Sergio’s weekend box office report published on Sunday afternoon, you would’ve seen his mention of the indie drama “Slamma Jamma,” which opened on Friday without much fanfare, and cracked the top 12, earning about $1.7 million. Occurrences… Continue Reading →...

This weekend, strong holdover “T2 Trainspotting” outperformed Fox Searchlight disappointment “Wilson” at the specialty box office. Jazz documentary “I Called Him Morgan” is the bright spot among new specialty entries — at just one theater. This year, there are so many well-reviewed wide releases enjoying huge success with smart adults that the indies need a strong critical response to compete for moviegoers.

Opening

Wilson (Fox Searchlight) Metacritic: 50; Festivals include: Sundance 2017

$330,000 in 310 theaters; PTA (per theater average): $1,065

“Wilson” did not make a splash at Sundance, and even a top-flight specialized distributor like Fox Searchlight can’t transform a film with mediocre reviews into a success. It’s got a great pedigree — directed by Craig Johnson (“The Skeleton Twins”), Daniel Clowes adapted it from his own graphic novel and its includes Woody Harrelson and Laura Dern. Searchlight went with a non-platform wider initial release of 330 theaters. For all that, however, the results...

Disney's Beauty and the Beast delivered a monster second weekend, pulling in enough to make it the fourth largest second weekend of all-time and pushing the film over $315 million in a matter of just ten days. Added to that, Lionsgate's release of Saban's Power Rangers debuted in second place and proved there was still an audience for the franchise that began in the early '90s. Meanwhile, Sony's Life didn't show much of it and WB's CHiPs finished mostly as expected, settling in the lower half of the weekend top ten. All that said it was a great weekend at the domestic box office with the top twelve delivering $192.3 million a 63% improvement over the same weekend last year. With an estimated $88.3 million, Disney's Beauty and the Beast finished atop the box office for a second weekend in a row. It's the fourth largest second weekend of all-time and pushes the...

Combining its inspirational and sports-movie tropes in hackneyed, unoriginal fashion, Timothy A. Chey’s Slamma Jamma seems to be anticipating its own bad reviews. One of the film’s minor characters is an obnoxious “sports critic” who gets a tongue-lashing from an observer who questions his credentials for commenting about basketball even though he’s never played the game himself. Well, most people have never made a movie but they know a bad one when they see one, and this is it.

Not that this effort isn’t earnest and well-meaning. Telling the story of a former college basketball star who tries to rebuild...

If Slamma Jamma isn’t the worst movie ever made about basketball, then it’s because some of the actual hoops footage is decent, provided you ignore the fact that the crew and equipment can be seen in about a quarter of the shots. Otherwise, this is close to the nadir of faux-inspirational filmmaking—the story of an ex-con and former USC basketball star who returns home to win back his girl and make the final round of an international dunking competition, directed by the evangelical schlockmeister Timothy A. Chey (The Genius Club, Suing The Devil) in a style that is part student film, part 1940s cheapie. Its impossibly conflict-free hero, Michael Diggs, is played by Chris Staples, a former Harlem Globetrotter with zero acting ability and the vacuum-like presence of Being There’s Chauncey Gardiner. The most interesting thing about Staples is that he has his own name tattooed...

Teenage superheroes, aliens and cops are headed to theaters this weekend in Power Rangers, Life and CHiPs. Also in theaters are Woody Harrelson in Wilson, jazz documentary I Called Him Morgan as well as basketball drama Slamma Jamma and The Leveling.

Read on to find out what The Hollywood Reporter's critics are saying about the weekend's new offerings (as well as which film will likely top the weekend box office).

Power Rangers

The Power Rangers are back on the big screen — color-coded power suits and all — after 20...

As has been the case over the last three weekends, this weekend is looking to outperform last year and, once again, by a significant margin. The big story, of course, is Disney's Beauty and the Beast as it continues to blow the doors off, becoming one of the fastest films to top $200 million at the domestic box office and, by the end of this weekend, will have topped $300 million in just ten days of release. In addition to Beauty and the Beast's second weekend, three new wide releases make their debut including Lionsgate's Power Rangers, Sony's R-rated sci-fi Life and WB's R-rated comedy CHiPs, all of which will have varying degrees of success as the top twelve should top a combined $180 million, making it the second largest weekend of the year. As of Wednesday, Disney's Beauty and the Beast has brought in $217.6 million domestically and another $244.3 million internationally. This...

How big will Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” be?

Continuing to forge ahead after its record-breaking opening gross last weekend, the live-action remake should outgross three new releases by about 150 percent. It’s unfair to judge any of the new titles against juggernaut “Beauty,” which has already amassed $206 million (unprecedented for pre-May) in its first five days domestic, $428 million worldwide. This weekend “Beauty and the Beast” looks to fall somewhere in the $80-100 million range and should hit a staggering $300 million in its first ten days.

This makes it hard for any newcomers to make much impact.

Read More: ‘Beauty and the Beast’ Is a Technological Marvel, But for Its Actors, the Challenge Was Daunting

Lionsgate’s $100 million reboot of “Power Rangers” will easily outpace Sony’s latest outer space adventure “Life” as well as Warner Bros.’ remake of 1970s California Highway Patrol TV hit “Chips.”

After three straight...

Welcome back to the Weekend Warrior, your weekly look at the new movies hitting theaters this weekend, as well as other cool events and things to check out.

So we’re going to try something different this week, because the Weekend Warrior has been getting a little long in the tooth, and we’re worried that our busy readers may prefer shorter and more concise pieces. We’ll give this a try over the next few weeks and maybe I’ll write a little more when there’s a bigger movie opening.

How Will Power Rangers and Two Other Movies Fare Against Disney’s Beauty and the Beast?

This past weekend, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast reigned supreme with nearly $175 million--over $20 million more than my prediction (ouch!)--and even with a substantial drop this weekend, it’s unlikely that any of the three new movies will be able to...

Director Tim Chey directs ‘Slamma Jamma’ (from his own script), a feature sports drama from RiverRain and Ray Walia Productions, which follows a former basketball star as he prepares for the national slam dunk competition while finding redemption in himself… Continue Reading →...