War Room, a Christian-themed movie released to only 1,526 theaters, is predicted to bring in $11.9 million for the four-day Labor Day opening weekend. The movie is expected to beat out the rest of the competition and come in as the top-grossing film for the weekend, beating The Transporter Refueled and Straight Outta Compton, Deadline reported. The Kendrick Brothers’ movie’s success is a huge surprise, since it relied on word-of-mouth advertising rather than expensive commercials and Hollywood premieres, CBS News reported.
Critics Tended Not to Like the Movie
The movie’s reaction with critics is less glowing. It has a 36 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, although it has a 90 percent user/audience rating, IJ Review reported. Here are a few things that the critics wrote on Twitter:
Michael Rechtshaffen, a film critic for The Los Angeles Times, wrote:
Meanwhile, Vadim Rizov from A.V. Club wrote in his review: “It’s innocuous enough fare, though it’s creepy to encourage women to believe the true source of their husbandly woes is Satan.”
And Tom Russo from The Boston Globe reported that the “pulpit pounding” was too much in the beginning, but the marital drama turned more authentic later on in the film.
Reactions From Viewers on Twitter Were Mostly Positive
Meanwhile, reactions from viewers on Twitter were mostly positive, including these: