“The release strategy was unique,” Cameron told Yahoo! of his film’s surprise success. The Tuesday screening was billed as a “live event” and sold more than 150,000. In addition to showing “Unstoppable,” Cameron presented several musical acts and led a question and answer session from the campus of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. “I think it is an underserved audience,” he added, saying that mainstream Hollywood isn’t targeting his and other niche groups.
The most bankable star at the box office right now? Hugh Jackman? Nope. Vin Diesel? Uh-uh. Oprah? Sorry.
The answer is Mike Seaver Kirk Cameron.
The 42-year-old “Growing Pains” alum released his faith-based documentary titled “Unstoppable” for just one night in theaters on Tuesday. Now the numbers are in, and it turns out the film grossed more than a whopping $2 million, according to Rentrak figures, on just 700 screens.
“I am very excited,” Cameron told Yahoo Movies on Friday.
That’s around the same one-night take that the Jackman-Jake Gyllenhaal drama “Prisoners” pulled ($2.2 million, but on nearly five times as many screens — 3,260 — than Cameron’s film), per Box Office Mojo.
So, what is “Unstoppable” and how did it prove to be an unstoppable force?
Inspired by the death of Cameron’s close friend Matthew Sandgren, who was only 15 years old when he succumbed to cancer, “Unstoppable” deals with the issue of why God allows bad things to happen to good people, and how tragedy has made Cameron’s faith stronger. “It’s tackling a philosophical question … a real stumper,” Cameron explained.
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