Faith-Based ‘I Can Only Imagine’ Soars With $17.1 Million Launch

Roadside Attractions-Lionsgate’s faith-based “I Can Only Imagine” has crushed early box office forecasts with a surprisingly strong $17.1 million at 1,629 locations in North America.Recent estimates for “I Can Only Imagine” had been in the $2 million-$8 million range.

It rang up the top per-site average by far among this weekend’s wide release movies with $10,476, and it notched an A+ CinemaScore among patrons.Roadside Attractions co-president Howard Cohen told Variety that the distributor began to get a sense in recent weeks that “I Can Only Imagine” would over-perform, thanks to $1.6 million in pre-sales and 130 million trailer views.Budgeted at just $7 million, “I Can Only Imagine” tells the story of Bart Millard, the leader of Christian rock group MercyMe, and his conception of “I Can Only Imagine,” the best-selling Christian single of all time.

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Michael Finley stars as Millard with Dennis Quaid as his father in the film from

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