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Jason Barney: At the very least this is an indication that faith-based movie goers will go to the theater at times. The Passion of the Christ is the mark by which any film covering a religious topic is measured, but that is a pretty high standard. I don't follow this conversation much, but there are many films that come out marketed to this movie-going demographic. I remember there being some discussion of whether The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe series of books was going to be something religious people would go out and see, but support for them has diminished. So Son of God, in a small way, has probably filled a bit of a need and it is going to be successful.

How successful still remains to be seen. Exceeding the production budget before the end of the first weekend is a great start, but we will have to see how well this one holds during the week. It will probably do fairly well, but I wonder if it sees a significant drop next weekend.

Max Braden: That is very impressive. To sell a re-edit of something that people had previously seen for free, at box office ticket prices and come up with a double-digit opening is very impressive. I think we have seen that faith-based dramas can hold their own at the box office, but they typically take place in contemporary settings. Son of God makes me wonder if retelling of Bible stories in their original settings might pick up. I could see this result being favorable to the opening of Noah at the end of this month.

Kim Hollis: I would certainly disagree with Jason that faith-based films have seen their audiences diminish. If we compare them to The Passion of the Christ, sure, but that film is the anomaly. The support of faith-based films was even one of our top film industry stories for 2011, a year that saw Soul Surfer, Jumping the Broom, Dolphin Tale and Courageous all succeed thanks to grass roots marketing campaigns from churches and other religious groups. To be fair, though, last year's films in the genre were not that well received overall. Nonetheless, I do think Son of God was well marketed to precisely the right audience and as such, it's a success. Since it debuted just ahead of the Lenten season, I expect it could have some staying power, too.

David Mumpower: What I believe is that Hollywood has done a terrible job catering to the faith crowd, which is a rift meticulously crafted by the conservative media. Hollywood liberals are supposed to be the enemy of people of God. Rather than attack that notion head on, Hollywood has generally decided that there is not enough money in play to countermand that philosophy. This surprising turn of events is simply the latest example that the Bible remains the ultimate literary adaptation. If Charlton Heston proved that in 1956, I am confused as to why it remains such a disputed fact. The other thing I wonder is why the same people who celebrated Son of God this weekend are up in arms about Noah. I would ordinarily guess that it is the presence of Mr. Inscrutable, Darren Aronofsky, but I doubt that the people protesting that release have seen The Fountain or Pi.

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