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Tag: Todd Burpo

  • ‘Heaven is for Real’ Movie Crushes Johnny Depp at Box Office

    The Heaven is for Real movie opened in theaters on April 16th, and on Easter weekend it crushed Johnny Depp’s new film Trandsendence in box office earnings. Heaven is for Real soared, bringing in $21.5 million from 2, 417 theaters. Depp’s film opened to a rather dismal $11.5 million coming from a total of 3, 455 movie theater locations.

    Based on the best-selling book of the same name written by Todd Burpo and Lynn Vincent, Heaven is for Real tells the story of little Colton Burpo who says he went to Heaven and came back again during a surgical procedure. Greg Kinnear stars as Colton Burpo’s father in the film. This is the latest in a series of Christian films to earn big at the box office in recent weeks. Noah, starring Russell Crowe, started big. God’s Not Dead, featuring Duck Dynsasty stars Willie and Corie Robertson, did much better than expected in a very limited theater run.

    Perhaps part of the film’s initial success stems from the Twitter campaign producers launched which focuses on strong family values.

    Bishop T.D. Jakes of The Potter’s House mega church even recommended the following video about the film, which includes snippets with some of the cast members.

    Heaven is for Real made quite a stir when the book was published, with many saying the story was contrived or highly embellished by Colton Burpo’s pastor father Todd Burpo. Producers obviously thought it had enough pull to draw people in to movie theaters, and Easter weekend’s box office numbers proved them right.

    Do you have plans to see Heaven is for Real, and if so, did you first read the book? What is drawing you to want to see this new Christian film?

    Image via YouTube

  • ‘Heaven is For Real’ Crushes It at Box Office

    Faith-based film Heaven Is for Real crushed it at the Easter weekend box office, earning $21.5 million from 2,417 theaters to destroy big-budget sci-fic epic Transcendence, which earned an unimpressive $11.5 million from 3,455 locations.

    Heaven Is for Real, from Sony’s TriStar label, opened Wednesday and earned $28.5 million in its first five days and placed third overall for the weekend.

    Christian-based movies seem to be making a huge impact of late and Heaven is for Real is the latest Christian film to exceed expectations.

    The movie is based on the real-lfe story of Nebraska pastor Todd Burpo, whose young son Colton said he visited Heaven during an emergency surgery. The film is adapted from the pastor’s book about Colton’s near-death experience, co-written by Lynn Vincent.

    The film stars Greg Kinnear and was produced by well-known pastor T. D. Jakes, director Randall Wallace and Hollywood veteran Joe Roth.

    Not surprising, the drama did its biggest business in the country’s Bible Belt, but appealed to mainstream audiences as well.

    “It’s really a terrific result,” said Sony’s distribution chief Rory Bruer. “And Easter was certainly a date that was in the wheelhouse of the film.”

    Currently there are three Bible-themed films in the top 10 chart.

    In addition to Heaven is for Real, Noah placed No. 9 with $5 million for a domestic total of $93.2 million. God’s Not Dead came in No. 10 with $4.8 million, adding to its total of $48.2 million.

    It came as a big surprise that the $12 million Heaven Is for Real beat Johnny Depp’s Transcendence, which cost $100 million to produce.

    Transcendence is the fourth big-budget bomb in a row for Johnny Depp after The Lone Ranger and Dark Shadows.

    In terms of Depp’s openings, Transcendence came in lower than The Tourist, which debuted to $16.5 million in 2010.

    Captain America: The Winter Soldier enjoyed its third week in the top spot, followed by Rio 2.

    Here’s the real life Colton Burpo who claimed to have visited Heaven.

    Image via YouTube

  • Colton Burpo Still Remembers His Trip To Heaven

    In the spring of 2003, 4-year-old Colton Burpo underwent an emergency appendectomy. Over the next few months, following the surgery, Colton slowly tells his family of his miraculous out-of-body experience.

    Colton revealed that he left his body, during the operation, and flew to Heaven. He described the people he met, including Jesus, and was able to tell his family what they were doing in the hospital while he was unconscious.

    His amazing story was written in a best-selling book titled Heaven is For Real, narrated by Colton’s minister father Todd Burpo, published in 2010. The book is now being adapted into a film that is scheduled to be released on Easter (April 20).

    While Colton, now 14-years-old, says he doesn’t have dreams about his experience, he does say that he remembers his trip to Heaven vividly, but not the events leading up to his hospital stay. “Well, my hospital experience and all the events leading up to not really, but with heaven, I still remember a lot of what I saw,” Colton said, during an interview with his family on Tuesday’s episode of the Today show.

    When the idea of a movie was pitched to the family, Todd said that they wanted the producers to stay as true to the story as possible, and keep the integrity of the story intact. “The biggest thing for us was the integrity of the story and they’ve kept their word to do that,” Todd said. “When you see Greg Kinnear and especially this little boy, Connor, you’re going to see, I think, the best representation of what I saw 11 years ago.”

    Todd and Colton told Kathy Lee and Hoda that the movie did a good job of depicting Heaven, but it is actually much better than what you will see in the film. “I think when it comes to real life , especially the scene where greg and kelly are fighting with each other in the kitchen, they know us pretty good, but, you know, I think the one scene about heaven, that’s Colton ‘s saying about the movie, he’s like, ‘you know, I know they did the best job they can, but heaven is so much better than that,’” Todd explained. “That’s good news for all of us. when you see — you’re going to see a good depiction, but for you it watch the movie and realize it is so much better, what a great thing to walk out and know that.”

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