Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul emerged as a critical darling at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, but the praise failed to translate into ticket sales at the box office.
The megachurch mockumentary-style comedy from writer-director Adamma Ebo arrived in theaters this weekend, yet generated just $1.4 million in ticket sales between Friday and Sunday, according to box office tracking company Comscore. The film is also currently available to stream on Peacock.
Honk for Jesus… stars Sterling K. Brown as a troubled megachurch pastor alongside Regina Hall as his ambitious wife.
The Focus Features release opened in 1,880 domestic theaters, earning a per location average of about $750. That wasn’t enough to make the top ten at the box office. Instead, the film landed in 14th place, behind a re-release of Jaws that came in 10th place with a weekend take of $2.3 million.
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Honk for Jesus… has a 74 percent positive rating from 136 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics describing the film as “exceptional,” “fearlessly confident,” and “well-acted.” Moviegoers were less kind, giving it a 25 percent audience score from 250 verified ratings on the website.
“Honk For Jesus… has enjoyed great reviews and strong buzz, but given that the film is available on Peacock Premium at home, that certainly limited the film’s box office potential at the multiplex,” Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore, told Urban Hollywood 411 on Sunday.
“That said, it’s likely audiences appreciated the opportunity to see the film either at home or on the big screen and it was (other than National Cinema Day) a relatively slow weekend in theaters so the box office overall pie was not exceptionally large to begin with,” Dergarabedian added.
National Cinema Day was a one-day nationwide promotion on Saturday where movie theaters offered tickets for $3 in more than 3,000 theaters to attract moviegoers during the late summer lull.
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Initially filmed as a short by sisters Adamma and Adanne Ebo, Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul was made into a feature film.
Adamma Ebo wrote and directed the big screen version. She also served as a producer alongside Hall and Brown. Additional producers include Adanne Ebo, Rowan Riley, Amandla Crichlow, Kara Durrett, Jessamine Burgum, Matthew Cooper, and Daniel Kaluuya.
Focus Features, Peacock, and Jordan Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions acquired the worldwide rights to the film out of Sundance, the companies announced in a joint press release on Feb. 27. The deal was worth about $8.5 million, Variety reported in February.
“We are excited to partner with Focus Features and Monkeypaw to bring Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul. to Peacock customers day-and-date with its theatrical release,” Val Boreland, executive vice president of content Acquisition for NBCUniversal entertainment, television and streaming said at the time. “We continue to expand the Peacock catalog with fresh stories from new creators like the Ebo twins, whose feature film debut already has Sundance audiences buzzing and is certain to delight viewers everywhere with its magnetic mix of satirical humor and drama.”
While Honk for Jesus… disappointed at the box office, an old favorite returned to the top.
A re-release of Spider-Man: No Way Home led the competition on a slow holiday weekend, taking in $6 million between Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Last month Fandango revealed the re-released version would include 11 minutes of previously unseen footage. The Sony Pictures blockbuster opened in December 2021 and has grossed $1.9 billion worldwide.
Top Gun: Maverick was second at the box office with $5.5 million in its 15th week in theaters. The sequel to the 1986 hit starring Tom Cruise has grossed $1.4 billion worldwide since it opened in May.
DC League of Super-Pets was third this weekend with $5.45 million in its sixth week of release. Bullet Train took fourth with $5.40 million in its fifth week, and The Invitation rounded out the top five with $4.7 million in its second weekend.
The year-to-date total domestic box office is $5.39 billion, up 151 percent from this time last year when theaters started to slowly recover from COVID-19 pandemic closures, according to Comscore.
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We Christians are very used to being mocked. We don’t have any need to pay actual money to hear it when it’s totally free out here, particularly every time we turn on TV or watch movies made the past 15 years. Actually, every single thing the media of all kinds (particularly TV/movies/news) produces mocks conservatives and Christians at least once in everything they produce. (The show Scandal is the reigning monarch of such.) So, trust me, you can be sure your comments/opinions are heard by us. Well done! But…you and all media apparently doesn’t need our $$ anyway. Or they wouldn’t insult half the country with every show.
Christians insult half the country by insisting they have some golden ticket to a theme park in the sky simply because they happened to be born in America and not the middle east. Christians insult half the country denying Evolution, hating gay people and constantly referring to a single, Harry Potter style, man-made book that supports slavery, the subjugation of women, child sacrifice, rape and genocide….by a loving sky wizard. Stop praising “god” for a day and praise “Zeus”. You’ll feel silly and sound silly and there will be no difference.
Somebody grew up very insecure didn’t they?
It’s okay, nobody wants to force you into anything,
keep hiding your fear with this silly rage.
???????? YES! This was eloquently written! Thank you for speaking for so many of us hell-bound sinners! ??????
Christians are entitled to their beliefs, Janice, and even entitled to say it all out loud.
But they aren’t entitled to have their words and actions go unnoticed by the rest of us: the lack of integrity, the hypocrisy, the bloc-voting, the fantastical and illogical arguments, the play for a U.S. theocracy, the addiction to material well-being and the taste for personal peace and prosperity…. none of that is off limits, and the louder Christians worry about losing their cultural dominance, the less serious they seem.
It’s okay Jimmy, they will still welcome you when you grow up and focus on more than just your own thirsty ego.
It’s ok Jan and Ty, the atrocities of the Catholic Church against children and evangelical right wing loonie-tunes have never been much of a threat to real Americans who understand Jesus Christ was a Jewish Rabbi who healed with Kanne Bosem “Cannabis.”
Regina King was great and stole the show. Not quite the Eyes of Tammy Faye but the theme seemed the same: Evil men and strong women. Been there, and seen that.