"Courageous" works strongly

'Courageous' opened up at $9.a million over the past weekend. Sherwood Pictures, the moviemaking secretary of state for Sherwood Chapel in Albany, Ga., is really a better judge of their audience compared to monitoring services are. Its newest film, "Courageous" (see review, page 29), launched by Sony's TriStar Pictures, minted $9.a million from just 1,161 Stateside locations in the opening weekend (Sept. 30-March. 2)."Courageous," which did not even estimate pre-weekend monitoring services, began out strong before it even first showed, with advanced ticket sales amassing around $two million. The film ongoing to construct momentum through the weekend, surprising most B.O. experts by topping a trio of greater-profile wide releases that incorporated "Dream House" and "50/50."It is the latest example inside a string of belief-based photos which have overperformed in the B.O.Captured, The new sony launched sports biopic "Soul Surfer," which cumed $43.9 million -- a lot more than four occasions its opening -- even though family film "Dolphin Tale" is not exactly belief-based, Warners has promoted the pic to that particular segment. The film increased to No. one in its second frame and it has made $39.two million through March. 5.Each of individuals game titles, together with "Courageous," received rare (though not always among belief-based photos) A+ CinemaScore rankings."Courageous" informs the storyline of 4 cops, who following a tragedy, struggle within their belief with their roles as father and husband.The new sony specific the film to chapel groups in addition to fans of Sherwood films. The business's "Fireproof," which opened up to $6.8 million, grew to become 2008's greatest-grossing independent release, cuming $33.5 million locally. "Courageous" cost only $two million, while "Fireproof" is made for half that. Contact Andrew Stewart at andrew.stewart@variety.com