Former DC Star’s Acclaimed Faith-Based Movie Blows Past Box Office Expectations

In a dramatic weekend at the domestic box office, Predator: Badlands ended up vastly overperforming and jolting the dormant marketplace into life. The movie was originally projected to gross around $25 million over the weekend, but earned somewhere in the vicinity of $40 million. On the other end of the spectrum, MUBI’s $24 million acquisition, Die My Love, grossed under $3 million despite starring Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson. Directed by Lynne Ramsay, Die My Love earned a dreadful D+ grade on CinemaScore and fell short of the $4.4 million earned by the rather low-key new title Sarah’s Oil.

Starring Zachary Levi and Star Trek: Discovery‘s Sonequa Martin-Green, the movie overshot expectations and secured a top five spot for itself on the weekend box office charts, finishing above not only Die My Love, but also the new Russell Crowe-led World War II movie, Nuremberg. It grossed around $4.5 million, on the back of near-unanimous praise from its target audience. Sarah’s Oil holds a perfect A+ grade on CinemaScore, and a phenomenal 99% audience score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes.

This is par for the course for faith-based movies, which tend to be received warmly by their intended audiences. However, what makes Sarah’s Oil somewhat out of the ordinary is that it isn’t distributed by Angel Studios or even Lionsgate; the latter studio witnessed incredible success in the faith-based market with Jesus Revolution a couple of years ago, and is gearing up to release Mel Gibson‘s The Resurrection of the Christ in two parts in 2027. Distributed by Amazon, Sarah’s Oil tells the story of a young woman who struck liquid gold in Oklahoma in the early 1900s. It is said that she was earning around $300 daily (the equivalent of more than $10,000), making her a millionaire before she became an adult, but also the subject of vilification and controversy. She is played by Naya Desir-Johnson in the movie.

The Faith-Based Market Has Been Expanding

Only a few weeks ago, Angel Studios released the historical faith-based drama Truth & Treason, based on the real-life story of Helmuth Hübener, a teenager who was executed in 1942 for opposing the Nazi regime. The movie earned nearly $6 million at the domestic box office, bolstered by excellent audience scores. More recently, Angel Studios released The King of Kings, which grossed nearly $80 million worldwide and scored a 97% audience score on RT, andThe Last Rodeo, which earned a 95% audience score on RT, and grossed $15 million domestically. Sarah’s Oil is directed by faith-based veteran Cyrus Nowrasteh, and co-produced by Jon Erwin and Andrew Erwin, who are responsible for many of the genre’s biggest hits, such as Jesus Revolution and House of David. You can watch Sarah’s Oil in theaters, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.