[Listed chronologically] Title (Year) Budget BoxOf Gross OpWknd Thtr SLT DN OSE ES SLW Avg. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- God's Army (2000) $ 300,000 $2,628,829 $ 88,584 3 2.5 3 2.5 B+ 71 Brigham City (2001) 1,000,000 905,073 103,629 51 3 2.5 2.5 B 69 Other Side of Heaven (2001) 7,000,000 4,720,112 55,765 2 2.5 2.5 2.5 C+ 62 The Singles Ward (2002) 500,000 1,250,798 46,649 11 1 2 2.5 C- 2 46 Out of Step (2002) 700,000 ~80,000 7 3 2.5 2 B 2.5 66 Jack Weyland's Charly (2002) 950,000 814,666 56,900 36 2 2 2.5 B- 2 56 Handcart (2002) 300,000 98,666 20,000 18 2.5 2.5 2 C- 2 54 The R.M. (2003) 500,000 1,111,615 130,352 15 2 2 2.5 B- 2 56 Legend of Johnny Lingo (2003) 1,690,025 109,868 63 2.5 2 2 C 2.5 55 The Work and the Story (2003) 120,000 14,474 2,192 5 2 2 1.5 D- 2.5 44 Book of Mormon Vol. 1 (2003) 2,000,000 1,672,730 114,573 30 1.5 2 2 C- 1.5 44 Day of Defense (2003) 500,000 16 1 1 1 F 1 20 Pride and Prejudice (2003) 350,000 372,752 38,329 18 2.5 2.5 3 C+ 2.5 65 The Home Teachers (2004) 500,000 196,123 47,494 20 2 1.5 1.5 C- 1.5 41 The Best Two Years (2004) 400,000 1,163,450 92,436 22 3 3 3 B 2.5 73 Saints and Soldiers (2004) 780,000 1,310,470 129,056 26 3.5 3 3.5 A- 3 84 Baptists at Our Barbecue (2004) 500,000 173,306 29,184 13 2 2 2 B- 1.5 51 The Work and the Glory (2004) 7,500,000 3,347,647 450,324* 32 3 2.5 2.5 C+ 2.5 65 Sons of Provo (2004) 200,000 120,488 25,354 7 1.5 2 2 C+ 3 54 Mobsters and Mormons (2005) 350,000 67,945+ 67,945 32 2.5 2.5 2.5 B- 2 61 OpWknd: Total gross box office ticket sales in the opening weekend. Thtr: Number of theaters movie played in on its opening weekend. SLT: Salt Lake Tribune DN: Deseret News OSE: Ogden Standard-Examiner ES: Eric D. Snider, reviewing for the Daily Herald (Utah County) until August 2003. SLW: Salt Lake City Weekly NOTES: "The Legend of Johnny Lingo" is technically not part of "LDS Cinema" genre, but is included here for reference. "The Work and the Story" (2003) opened in 5 regular multiplex theaters on 3 October 2003, with a weekend box office gross of $2,192. This the figure shown in the table above. Prior to that, however, the movie was shown for a month (beginning on 29 August 2003) in 2 Utah comedy club locations and one indepenent film/art theater location. Moviegoers most interested in seeing this movie probably went to see it during these "pre-release" weeks, but are not counted in the table as part of the opening weekend. * "The Work and the Glory" (2004) premiered on Wednesday, November 24th, the day before Thanksgiving. It earned $251,145 during its first 3-day actual weekend - if one counts ONLY Friday, Saturday and Sunday. But combining this with ticket sales from Wednesday and Thursday, its total opening "weekend" box office gross was $450,324. Avg: Movie reviews combined into a numerical average. Stars [out of possible 4] 4 = 100 3.5 = 88 3 = 75 2.5 = 63 2 = 50 1.5 = 38 1 = 25 0.5 = 13 0 = 0 Stars [out of possible 5] 5 = 100 4.5 = 89 4 = 78 3.5 = 67 3 = 56 2.5 = 45 2 = 34 1.5 = 23 1 = 12 0.5 = 6 0 = 0 Letter Grade A = 100 A- = 92 B+ = 84 B = 75 B- = 67 C+ = 59 C = 50 C- = 42 D+ = 34 D = 25 D- = 17 F = 0 Haro-Online.com review scale: Really Good 100 Pretty Good 83 Not Bad 67 Okay 50 Not That Good 33 Pretty Bad 17 Really Bad 0 San Francisco Chronicle review scale: [4 possible pictographs] Man jumping out of chair, clapping energetically: 4/4 100 Man sitting in chair, clapping: 3/4 75 Man sitting alert in chair, holding hat: 2/4 50 Man dozing in chair: 1/4 25 Empty chair: 0/4 0 The Dr. Daniel Rating System: MEDICAL MIRACLE - This film is an amazing physical specimen. Don't change a thing! 4/4 100 IN FOR OBSERVATION - This film is worth a look, but may show a few ill symptoms. 3/4 75 UNDER THE KNIFE - This film has life in it, but could use a little reconstructive surgery. 2/4 50 CRITICAL CONDITION - This film could croak at any time, but still has a slight pulse. 1/4 25 DEAD ON ARRIVAL - This film is so bloody horrible it's taking on signs of rigor mortis. 0/4 0 Scores from other local reviews: Utah Statesman (Utah State College) gave an A- to "The Singles Ward", but reviews of other movies not found. Daily Utah Chronicle (University of Utah) gave 2 stars out of 4 to "Brigham City", but other reviews not found. Reviewers Average Scores on LDS-themed movies --------------------------------------------- Salt Lake Tribune (Sean P. Means): 60.2 Deseret News (Jeff Vice): 62.8 Ogden Standard-Examiner (Steve Salles): 59.8 Daily Herald (Eric D. Snider): 67.0 Numerically speaking, Eric D. Snider at the Daily Herald actually has given, on average, the highest marks to LDS-themed movies. But this may be partially due to the fact that he assigns letter grades rather than using the 4-star system that the other reviewers use. Snider reviewed 438 movies in the years 2000 and 2001 that he assigned a letter grade to. The average numerical score from ALL of his reviews was 63. The Salt Lake Tribune, Deseret News, and Ogden Standard-Examiner all award up to 4 stars, including possible half-stars. Among these three newspapers, the numerical average of reviews ranges from 59.8 to 62.8 -- a span of only 3 percentage points. So, while the Deseret News technically has the highest average score and the Ogden Standard-Examiner technically has the lowest, the difference is purely academic. Scott Renshaw is the reviewer for the Salt Lake City Weekly. ----------- This page last modified 10 September 2005