Jumping the Broom

—which co-stars and was co-produced by T.D. Jakes, pastor at The Potter's House in Dallas and a best-selling author—took third place in its debut weekend, collecting a "decent" $13.7 million from 2,035 theaters, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Billed as "a light-hearted faith and family movie that cleverly addresses the cultural and spiritual challenges of abstinence, motherhood, family and relationships using comedy instead of a moral rod," the movie had a production budget of $6.6 million. Jakes hosted a number of screenings of the film at Christian conferences in the weeks leading up to the film's release.

The movie—which stars Angela Bassett (Notorious, Meet the Browns), Paula Patton (Precious, Deja Vu) and Laz Alonso (Just Wright, Avatar)—"exceeded industry expectations and was received very well by audiences, who gave it an average grade of A," the Times reported.

Jumping the Broom finished one spot ahead of another romantic comedy about marriage, Something Borrowed, which made an estimated $13.2 million from 2,904 theaters, but had a $35 million production budget. Rated PG-13 for some sexual content, Jumping the Broom earned recommendations from more than half of the nation's film critics, according to RottenTomatoes.com.

Meanwhile, There Be Dragons—about Josemaría Escrivá, founder of the Catholic Opus Dei movement and made by Roland Joffé, director of the Oscar-winning The Killing Fields and The Mission—only made an estimated $689,000 at 259 locations during its debut weekend, the Times reported.

Soul Surfer—the inspirational life story of surfer Bethany Hamilton, the Christian teen who had her left arm bitten off by a tiger shark—took ninth place in its fifth weekend with $2.1 million, and has earned $36.7 million at the box office. Heavily marketed to the faith-based community, the movie—distributed by Sony Pictures' TriStar label and marketed by the studio's faith-based division, Affirm Films, and FilmDistrict—was made for $18 million.

Click here http://www.jumpingthebroom-movie.com for more information on Jumping the Broom. The date has not been set yet for the DVD release.

• Prev
• Next