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Kirk Cameron can buy and sell you.

Kim Hollis: Fireproof, the relatively unheralded Kirk Cameron film from Samuel Goldwyn, earned $6.8 million from only 839 venues. How surprised are you by this result?

David Mumpower: This is the most successful performance for a faith-based film in recent memory. There are several of these titles that come out each month and we generally don't even discuss them since they are such box office non-factors. We can make all the jokes we want here about the Sunday School push, but the reality is that this is a shockingly strong debut. I hadn't even heard about this film until last week and I can already recite release dates for 2012. Its finishing in the top five is amazing.

Scott Lumley: That's not amazing. What's amazing is that this film was produced with a $500,000 dollar budget. It opened to $6.5 million dollars, which makes the opening weekend 1,200% profit. And that's just the opening weekend. Was Passion of the Christ this profitable? Niche films. They're like a license to print money.

Kim Hollis: This one was out of nowhere for me. I mean, it *blew away* Cameron's earlier film, Left Behind, which was marketed to a similar crowd and had a built-in audience due to the popularity of the books. Fireproof's grassroots marketing efforts should be a case study for the future.

Jason Lee: I can only pray that Religulous does as well as this. Somehow, I doubt that my prayers will help, though.

Max Braden: I'm extremely surprised, since I didn't even know it was opening. Is that more than Ghost Town opened?? I guess Cameron's fans didn't take to the blasphemy.

Daron Aldridge: Not only did this one have the push of the Sunday School crowd, but it also had the benefit of being featured on Dr. Phil last week...just in time for opening weekend. With a story that was more secularly accessible than Armageddon in Left Behind, this one just stood a better chance of earning more.





Tim Briody: We were certainly left behind on this one.

Shane Jenkins: This sure was a revelation.

Reagen Sulewski: Kirk Cameron's career sure is evolving.

Les Winan: Has it been resurrected?

Scott Lumley: If evolving is a euphemism for 'obsessive and creepy' then I agree with you.

Calvin Trager: Would it be going too far to suggest that audiences' response to this film was ... rapturous?

Jason Lee: As "heavenly" as the BO performance of Fireproof was, I'm glad that the BOP team has proven that yes, we are more than capable of bringing it back down to earth with bad puns and quips. Go us!

Sean Collier: Indeed, Jason. If there's a just God, we won't be going to hell for mocking this movie - we'll be going to hell for mocking this movie in such a lame fashion.

Jason Lee: *GASP* It's just like that movie that Homer Simpson saw in the "Thank God It's Doomsday" episode. We'll all be LEFT BELOW!!! *weeps uncontrollably*

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