The faith-based film delivers at the box office, claiming third place.
Expectations were high for Breakthrough and it did not disappoint. The picture, from Christian producer DeVon Franklin and based on a true story, brought in $11.1 million from Friday through Sunday, according to preliminary data from The Numbers, and $14.6 million if you add in the two previous days leading into the long Easter weekend.
Some projections went as high as $20 million for that five-day period, and we guessed $16 million, but this is nevertheless a strong open for the movie: very rarely does a Christian film claim a spot in the overall top three at the weekend box office. It is, however, off the pace of a similar DeVon Franklin production, Miracles from Heaven, that we wrote about here. That one also claimed third place when it opened back in 2016, but it brought in closer to $15 million from Friday through Sunday.
Breakthrough tells the true story of a Missouri boy who fell through the ice on a lake and drowned. After his body was recovered, he was without a heartbeat for 45 minutes at the hospital. That's when his mother prayed and God restored him to life. The film stars Chrissy Metz, Topher Grace, Marcel Ruiz, Josh Lucas, Mike Colter and Dennis Haysbert.