Because of the coronavirus scare, this new faith-based film hits home entertainment platforms just two weeks after its theatrical debut.
I Still Believe, the latest picture from the brother duo of Andrew Erwin and Jon Erwin, got off to a very good start at the box office, claiming first place on its opening night. With a captivating real-life love story about Christian musician Jeremy Camp and his late wife, Melissa, and a high-profile cast - including K.J. Apa and Britt Robertson - it finished third for that weekend with a total gross of $9.1 million.
The movie ran for a few more days in 3,200 theaters before the virus shut down venues across North America, forcing its distributor - and every other distributor with a film in release - to figure out alternative arrangements. There was about another week of access at drive-in theaters before the picture set off on its current path: 48-hour rentals via digital and cable providers.
That option will cost $20 and give you the ability to watch it wherever you'd like, as is standard procedure with this on-demand viewing. There will also be a purchase option eventually, allowing you to own either a DVD/Blu-ray or digital version of the film, but details on that are still to come.
With theaters closed for at least another month or two, the entire American movie business is currently in uncharted waters. That has prompted studios to either postpone release dates altogether, as we discussed here, or go this same home entertainment route. How it shakes out is hard to say with certainty, but total revenue will almost certainly be down and likely significantly.
Back to I Still Believe, our thinking was that it would have eventually grossed somewhere north of $40 million at the domestic box office. We have a hard time imagining it will pull in anywhere near that much via on-demand rentals, though pent-up demand should boost it well beyond what it would normally have done in that format.
At any rate, Christian Film Blog will monitor its progress and keep you abreast of developments as warranted. In the meantime, you can find out more about how this home entertainment scheme works via this link to the movie's website.