The controversial anti-abortion drama Unplanned opened to a strong $6.1 million from 1,059 theaters at the U.S. box office despite a relatively modest footprint.
According to The Holllywood Reporter, the R-rated film — landing in fifth place — scored the second-biggest start ever for faith-based distributor Pure Flix behind God's Not Dead 2 ($7.6 million). The Christian pic did its biggest business in the Midwest and South.
Generally, theaters in New York City and Los Angeles populate the list of a film's top 20 grossing theaters. In this case, there were none. Instead, the top theater was the AMC Northpark 15 in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, followed by cinemas in St. Louis; Detroit; Wichita, Kansas; Temecula in Southern California's Riverside County; Salt Lake City; Orange County, California; Kansas City; Odessa, Texas; and Nashville.
"We are thrilled, gratified and humbled," co-directors Cary Solomon and Chuck Konzelman said Sunday in a statement. "We are so pleased that the American people have responded with such an enormous outpouring of support at the box office. It humbles us and we look forward to seeing what happens in the weeks ahead."
Heading into the weekend, tracking suggested a $3 million debut for Unplanned.
The pic tells the true story of Abby Johnson, who defected from Planned Parenthood to become a pro-life activist after witnessing an abortion at 13 weeks. Unplanned was partially financed by My Pillow founder Michael Lindell, who is a born-again Christian and outspoken supporter of President Donald Trump.
Despite Twitter suspending our account, TV networks refusing to sell ad time to us, a targeted R rating from the MPAA, and myriad of blockages attempting to undermine our film, we pushed through!— UnplannedMovie (@UnplannedMovie) March 31, 2019
Can we get our message to @realDonaldTrump & @DonaldJTrumpJr? RT 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/TwaubaMeJo
The movie's Twitter account was briefly suspended on Saturday, mere hours after its release on Friday. On Sunday, the account seems to have mysteriously lost 99,000 of its 100,000 followers.
"Wow!!! 100K Followers," the Unplanned account tweeted on Sunday afternoon. "Thanks to everyone who has helped us to achieve this milestone. When [Twitter] suspended our account you came together as a strong voice. We are so very grateful for the enormous support you've show at the box office."
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