‘The Book of Clarence’ Needs Thoughts and Prayers After $2.5 Million Debut at Box Office

The Book of Clarence (Credit: Sony Pictures)

The Book of Clarence found few believers this weekend in theaters.

The biblical-era satire opened in ninth place at the box office, after taking in an estimated $2.5 million between Friday and Sunday, according to industry tracking company Comscore.

The Sony TriStar release played in 2,010 locations across the U.S. and Canada. It’s expected to add another $1.5 million on the MLK holiday, for a projected four-day total of $4 million.

Also Read: ‘Mean Girls’ Wins Box Office Popularity Contest With $28 Million Debut

LaKeith Stanfield leads the cast as a street hustler named Clarence in Jerusalem. With help from his friends, Clarence tries to capitalize on the rise of Jesus Christ by claiming to be a new Messiah with powers to heal the sick. Instead of helping those in need, Clarence is really out to get their money into his collection plate. He visits Mary and Joseph to ask them for guidance on how to perform the same “tricks” as their son, Jesus, but they tell him Jesus is real and not a trickster.

Clarence’s moneymaking scheme eventually unravels when he’s arrested for fraud and faces a sentence of being nailed to a cross.

The film’s cast also includes Omar Sy, Anna Diop, RJ Cyler, David Oyelowo, Micheal Ward, Alfre Woodard. Teyana Taylor, Caleb McLaughlin, Eric Kofi-Abrefa, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, James McAvoy, and Benedict Cumberbatch.

Jeymes Samuel (The Harder They Fall) wrote and directed the film. Samuel also serves as a producer alongside Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter, James Lassiter, and Tendo Nagenda.

At the premiere in Los Angeles on Jan. 5, Samuel said the film would offer a different depiction of Jesus and his followers than Hollywood typically shows on screen.

“We’ve never had a movie like this in 135 years of the moving image, ever. We have never been allowed to see ourselves in this time and place, in this period, even though [the Bible] says [Jesus] had skin the color of burnt brass and hair the texture of lamb’s wool,” Samuel told the audience. “This movie is not about color. But I do think that it’s fair and only right for us to at least have one of these films set in this era, that we can see ourselves in.”

The movie received mostly positive reviews from critics and has a 68 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences gave it a “B” CinemaScore.

The Book of Clarence had a reported $40 million production budget, and will likely lose money.

Paramount’s Mean Girls topped the box office this weekend, with an estimated $28.0 million over three days and $32.0 million through Monday. The movie musical is a contemporary twist on SNL alum Tina Fey’s 2004 classic.

Fey wrote the script for the new film, which was directed by Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr. The movie had a $36 million production budget.


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About Anita Bennett

Anita Bennett is the editor and founder of Urban Hollywood 411. She can be reached on Twitter @tvanita.

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