Heaven Is for Real (film)

Last updated

Heaven Is for Real
Heavenisforrealtheaterposter.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Randall Wallace
Screenplay byRandall Wallace
Christopher Parker
Based on Heaven Is for Real
by Todd Burpo
and Lynn Vincent
Produced by Joe Roth
T. D. Jakes
Devon Franklin
Starring Greg Kinnear
Kelly Reilly
Connor Corum
Margo Martindale
Thomas Haden Church
Cinematography Dean Semler
Edited by John Wright
Music by Nick Glennie-Smith
Production
companies
Distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing
Release date
  • April 16, 2014 (2014-04-16)
Running time
99 minutes [1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$12 million [2]
Box office$101.9 million [2]

Heaven Is for Real is a 2014 American Christian drama film written and directed by Randall Wallace and co-written by Christopher Parker, based on Pastor Todd Burpo and Lynn Vincent's 2010 book of the same name. The film stars Greg Kinnear, Kelly Reilly, Connor Corum, Margo Martindale, and Thomas Haden Church. [3]

Contents

The film has received mixed critical reviews, but nevertheless was a box office success, grossing $101 million against a $12 million budget, becoming the second-highest grossing Christian film of all time. [4]

Plot

Four-year-old Colton Burpo is the son of Todd Burpo, pastor of Crossroads Wesleyan Church in Imperial, Nebraska. Colton says he experienced Heaven during an emergency surgery after having acute appendicitis. He describes to his incredulous family about having seen the surgeon operating on his ruptured appendix, his mother calling people in the waiting room to pray, and his father in another room yelling at God to not let him die. He also speaks of incidents with people he never met or knew about: meeting a great-grandfather who had died long before he was born, an unborn sister he never knew about who had died in a miscarriage, and having met Jesus.

Colton speaks about his experiences in Heaven, and Todd is faced with the dilemma of determining the legitimacy of his son's experience. Todd's wariness about discussing the situation erodes the confidence of the board members of his church, and he is contacted by several members of the media. When Todd is called by a radio station for an impromptu on-air interview, he invites them to attend his sermon the following Sunday. At church, he preaches about his son's experiences and reveals his support for him.

Following the events at the church, Todd is doing research on the Internet and finds a story about a Lithuanian girl who had a similar experience. Her recall of Jesus was identical to that of Colton. Todd tries to speak to Colton further about the experience but he is interrupted by his wife revealing that she is pregnant with their third child. Photos of Colton and his family are shown in the present day.

Cast

Production and development

In May 2011, Sony Pictures acquired the film rights of the book Heaven Is for Real . It was announced that Joe Roth would be producing the film with T. D. Jakes for the TriStar Pictures division of Sony Pictures. [7] On August 23, 2012, Braveheart writer and Secretariat director Randall Wallace signed on to direct. [8]

On March 19, 2013, it was announced that Greg Kinnear was in talks to star, and he later joined the cast. [5] On April 15, 2013, actress Kelly Reilly joined the film. [6]

On July 17, it was reported that composer Nick Glennie-Smith would score the film, [9] and behind the scenes, the director of photography was Dean Semler. [10]

Shooting began in the last week of July 2013 in Selkirk, Manitoba. [3]

Release

The film was released on April 16, 2014 and held a 3,048 theater count through its 4th week. [9]

Reception

Box office

At the end of box office run, Heaven Is for Real earned a gross of $91,443,253 in North America and $9,026,536 in other territories for a worldwide total of $100,469,789 against a budget of $12 million. [11]

The film grossed $3.7 million on its opening day. It went on to gross a total of $22.5 million in its opening weekend, playing in 2,417 theaters for a $9,318 per-theatre average finishing in second behind Captain America: The Winter Soldier .

The biggest markets in other territories were Mexico, Poland, and Colombia where the film grossed $1.9 million, $1.4 million, and $1.2 million, respectively. [12]

Critical response

Heaven Is for Real received mixed reviews. The film holds a 51% rating on the film aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 89 reviews, with an average score of 5.6/10. The site's consensus states, "Heaven Is for Real boasts a well-written screenplay and a talented cast, but overextends itself with heavy-handed sequences depicting concepts it could have trusted the audience to take on faith." [13] On another website, Metacritic, it has a 47/100 score (indicating "mixed or average"), based on reviews from 27 critics. [14]

In CinemaScore polls conducted during the opening weekend, cinema audiences gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale. [15]

Jeb Lund, a columnist for The Guardian , [16] expressed skepticism about the depiction of the story in the film. The red markers which Colton Burpo claims Jesus had on his hands and feet are well known. The boy could have easily guessed that his minister father would have been praying, or nursing staff could have told him. [17]

Accolades

List of awards and nominations
AwardCategoryRecipientResultRef(s)
Teen Choice Awards Choice Movie: Drama Heaven is for RealNominated [18]
People's Choice Awards Favorite Dramatic MovieHeaven is for RealNominated [19] [20]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Linklater</span> American film director, producer and screenwriter (born 1960)

Richard Stuart Linklater is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is known for making films that deal thematically with suburban culture and the effects of the passage of time. His films include the comedies Slacker (1990) and Dazed and Confused (1993); the Before trilogy of romance films: Before Sunrise (1995), Before Sunset (2004), and Before Midnight (2013); the music-themed comedy School of Rock (2003); the adult animated films Waking Life (2001), A Scanner Darkly (2006), and Apollo 10 1⁄2: A Space Age Childhood (2022); the coming-of-age drama Boyhood (2014); and the comedy film Everybody Wants Some!! (2016).

<i>The Smurfs</i> (film) 2011 film by Raja Gosnell

The Smurfs is a 2011 American fantasy adventure comedy film based on the comic series of the same name created by the Belgian comics artist Peyo. It was directed by Raja Gosnell and stars Neil Patrick Harris, Jayma Mays, Sofia Vergara and Hank Azaria, with the voices of Jonathan Winters, Katy Perry, George Lopez, Anton Yelchin, Fred Armisen and Alan Cumming. It is the first live-action Sony Pictures Animation film and the first of two live-action animated Smurfs feature films.

<i>90 Minutes in Heaven</i> 2004 book by Don Piper and Cecil Murphey

90 Minutes in Heaven is a 2004 Christian book written by Don Piper with Cecil Murphey. The book documents the author's death and resurrection experience in 1989. 90 Minutes in Heaven remained on the New York Times Bestseller List for more than five years and has sold over six million copies. The book has also been adapted into a feature-length film, released in theaters on September 11, 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alex Kendrick</span> American actor

Alexander Kendrick is an American pastor, film writer, producer, director and actor, best known for directing and starring in notable faith-based films, including Facing The Giants, War Room, Overcomer, Courageous, and Fireproof. He is one of only two film directors to have three different films receive an "A+" grade on CinemaScore.

<i>2012</i> (film) 2009 film by Roland Emmerich

2012 is a 2009 American science fiction disaster film directed by Roland Emmerich. It was produced by Harald Kloser, Mark Gordon, and Larry J. Franco, and written by Kloser and Emmerich. The film stars John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Oliver Platt, Thandiwe Newton, Danny Glover and Woody Harrelson. Based on the 2012 phenomenon, its plot follows geologist Adrian Helmsley (Ejiofor) and novelist Jackson Curtis (Cusack) as they struggle to survive an eschatological sequence of events including earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, megatsunamis, and a global flood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Will Gluck</span> American filmmaker

Will Gluck is an American filmmaker, songwriter, and composer.

Lynn Vincent is an American writer, journalist, and author or co-author of 12 books. Vincent's work focuses on memoirs, history, and narrative nonfiction. In 2022 she was appointed as the executive editor of WORLD magazine.

<i>Ted</i> (film) 2012 comedy film by Seth MacFarlane

Ted is a 2012 American fantasy comedy film directed by Seth MacFarlane and written by MacFarlane, Alec Sulkin, and Wellesley Wild. The film stars Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis, with Joel McHale and Giovanni Ribisi in supporting roles, and MacFarlane providing the voice and motion capture of the title character. The film tells the story of John Bennett, a Boston native whose childhood wish brings his teddy bear friend Ted to life. However, in adulthood, Ted and John's friendship begins to interfere with the progression of John's relationship with his girlfriend, Lori Collins.

<i>Hotel Transylvania</i> (film) 2012 American film by Genndy Tartakovsky

Hotel Transylvania is a 2012 American animated monster comedy film produced by Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation, and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing. It is the first installment in the Hotel Transylvania franchise, it was directed by Genndy Tartakovsky from a screenplay by Peter Baynham and Robert Smigel, and a story by Todd Durham, Dan Hageman and Kevin Hageman, based on an original concept created by Durham. The film stars the voices of Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez, Kevin James, Fran Drescher, Steve Buscemi, Molly Shannon, David Spade and CeeLo Green.

<i>Thats My Boy</i> (2012 film) 2012 film by Sean Anders

That's My Boy is a 2012 American black comedy film directed by Sean Anders, written by David Caspe, and produced by Adam Sandler, Jack Giarraputo, Heather Parry, and Allen Covert. It stars Sandler and Andy Samberg in the lead roles, with Leighton Meester, Vanilla Ice, Tony Orlando, Will Forte, Milo Ventimiglia, Susan Sarandon, and James Caan in supporting roles. The film follows Donny Berger (Sandler), a middle-aged alcoholic who once enjoyed celebrity status for being at the center of a teacher-student statutory rape case, as he tries to rekindle his relationship with his adult son, Todd Peterson/Han Solo Berger (Samberg), born as the result of that illicit relationship, in hopes that their televised reunion will earn him enough money to avoid going to prison for his tax debts.

Affirm Films is an American Christian film studio and label of Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions, which produces, markets, and acquires faith-based films. The studio's highest-grossing faith-based dramas are Heaven is for Real, Miracles from Heaven, and War Room. Its films having collectively grossed over $520 million in worldwide box office receipts, and its total overall revenue surpassing $2 billion over the last 14 years, and with less than one film produced and released per year during that time, it is the most successful Christian film studio of all time.

<i>Heaven Is for Real</i> Christian non-fiction book

Heaven is for Real: A Little Boy's Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back is a 2010 New York Times best-selling Christian book written by Todd Burpo and Lynn Vincent and published by Thomas Nelson Publishers. The book documents the report of a near-death experience by Burpo's three-year-old son Colton.

<i>Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2</i> 2013 animated film by Cody Cameron and Kris Pearn

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 is a 2013 American animated science fiction comedy film produced by Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation, animated by Sony Pictures Imageworks, and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing. The sequel to the 2009 film Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, the film was directed by Cody Cameron and Kris Pearn from a screenplay written by Erica Rivinoja and the writing team of John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, the directors of the previous film, returned as executive producers, and also conceived the story with Rivinoja. Bill Hader, Anna Faris, James Caan, Andy Samberg, Neil Patrick Harris, and Benjamin Bratt reprise their roles from the first film, while Will Forte, who voiced Joseph Towne in the first film, voices Chester V in this film. New cast members include Kristen Schaal as Chester's orangutan assistant, Barb, and Terry Crews as Earl Devereaux, replacing Mr. T. The film's plot focuses on Flint Lockwood and his friends returning to Swallow Falls to save the world after the presumed-destroyed Flint Lockwood Diatonic Super Mutating Dynamic Food Replicator (FLDSMDFR) reactivates, this time creating sentient food creatures.

<i>This Is the End</i> 2013 American comedy film directed by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg

This Is the End is a 2013 American apocalyptic comedy horror film written, directed and produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg in their directorial debuts. It is a feature-length film adaptation of Rogen and Goldberg's short film Jay and Seth Versus the Apocalypse (2007), which was directed by Jason Stone, who serves as an executive producer on the film. Starring James Franco, Jonah Hill, Rogen, Jay Baruchel, Danny McBride, Craig Robinson, Michael Cera and Emma Watson, the film centers on fictionalized versions of its cast in the wake of a global biblical apocalypse in Los Angeles.

<i>The Equalizer</i> (film) 2014 American film by Antoine Fuqua

The Equalizer is a 2014 American vigilante action-thriller film directed by Antoine Fuqua and written by Richard Wenk. It is the first installment of The Equalizer trilogy and loosely based on the 1980s TV series of the same title. The film stars Denzel Washington in the lead role, along with Marton Csokas, Chloë Grace Moretz, David Harbour, Bill Pullman, and Melissa Leo. In the film, a retired U.S. Marine and DIA agent reluctantly returns to action in order to protect a teenage trafficking victim from members of the Russian mafia.

<i>Sex Tape</i> (film) 2014 film by Jake Kasdan

Sex Tape is a 2014 American sex comedy film directed by Jake Kasdan and written by Kate Angelo, Jason Segel, and Nicholas Stoller. Starring Segel, Cameron Diaz, Rob Corddry, Ellie Kemper, and Rob Lowe, the film follows a married couple who make a sex tape to spice up their relationship only to wake up the next morning to find that it has gone missing. This sparks a frantic search in an attempt to find it.

<i>One Direction: This Is Us</i> 2013 film directed by Morgan Spurlock

One Direction: This Is Us is a 2013 3-D documentary concert film about British boy band One Direction. It opened in the United Kingdom on 29 August 2013, followed a day later in the United States. The film follows the group on their Take Me Home Tour. It was a commercial success and grossed $68 million worldwide.

<i>The Interview</i> 2014 film by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg

The Interview is a 2014 American political satire action comedy film produced and directed by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg in their second directorial work, following This Is the End (2013). The screenplay was written by Dan Sterling, which he based on a story he co-wrote with Rogen and Goldberg. The film stars Rogen and James Franco as journalists who set up an interview with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, played by Randall Park, only to then be recruited by the CIA to assassinate him. The film was inspired by a 2012 Vice documentary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DeVon Franklin</span> American film producer and writer (born 1978)

DeVon Franklin is an American producer, author, and motivational speaker. He is best known for the films Miracles from Heaven, Heaven Is for Real, and The New York Times Best Seller book The Wait, which he co-wrote with his then-wife Meagan Good.

<i>Miracles from Heaven</i> (film) 2016 Christian drama film by Patricia Riggen

Miracles from Heaven is a 2016 American Christian drama film directed by Patricia Riggen and written by Randy Brown. It is based on Miracles from Heaven by Christy Beam, which recounts the true story of her young daughter who had a near-death experience and was later cured of an incurable disease. The film stars Jennifer Garner, Kylie Rogers, Martin Henderson, John Carroll Lynch, Eugenio Derbez, and Queen Latifah. Principal photography began in Atlanta, Georgia, in July 2015. The film was released on March 16, 2016. The movie was financially successful, becoming the 8th highest-grossing Christian film in the United States. Although critical reception was mixed, Garner's performance earned general praise.

References

  1. "HEAVEN IS FOR REAL (PG)". Columbia Pictures . British Board of Film Classification. May 13, 2014. Retrieved May 13, 2014.[ dead link ]
  2. 1 2 "Heaven Is for Real". BoxOfficeMojo.com. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
  3. 1 2 3 "'Heaven Is for Real' movie starts filming in Canada". christianretailing.com. July 30, 2013. Retrieved August 2, 2013.
  4. "Christian Movies at the Box Office". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved April 23, 2019.
  5. 1 2 "Greg Kinnear in Talks to Star in Sony's 'Heaven Is for Real'". hollywoodreporter.com. March 19, 2013. Retrieved August 2, 2013.
  6. 1 2 "Kelly Reilly Lands Lead In Sony Drama 'Heaven Is For Real'". deadline.com. April 15, 2013. Retrieved August 2, 2013.
  7. "'Heaven Is For Real' Headed For Movie Adaptation Through Sony Pictures, Joe Roth And T.D. Jakes". deadline.com. May 9, 2011. Retrieved August 2, 2013.
  8. "'Braveheart' Writer Randall Wallace Believes 'Heaven Is For Real'". indiewire.com. August 24, 2012. Archived from the original on February 1, 2014. Retrieved August 2, 2013.
  9. 1 2 "Nick Glennie-Smith to Score Randall Wallace's 'Heaven Is for Real'". filmmusicreporter.com. July 17, 2013. Retrieved August 3, 2013.
  10. "TriStar Pictures' 'HEAVEN IS FOR REAL' begins production". prnewswire.com. July 17, 2013. Retrieved August 3, 2013.
  11. "Heaven is for Real (2014)". Box Office Mojo . IMDb . Retrieved September 1, 2018.
  12. "Heaven is for Real international box office". Box Office Mojo . IMDb . Retrieved January 22, 2015.
  13. "Heaven Is for Real (2014)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved January 13, 2021.
  14. "Heaven Is for Real". Metacritic. Retrieved June 12, 2014.
  15. "Weekend Report: 'Captain' Three-peats, 'Heaven' Rises Over Easter Weekend". Box Office Mojo . IMDb . Retrieved January 22, 2015.
  16. Jeb Lund. "Jeb Lund". The Guardian. Retrieved January 18, 2015.
  17. "How Hollywood Screwed Up a Simple Tale of a Four-Year-Old Going to Heaven and Coming Back - VICE - United States". VICE. April 21, 2014. Retrieved January 18, 2015.
  18. Nordyke, Kimberly (August 10, 2014). "Teen Choice Awards: The Complete Winners List". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 17, 2014.
  19. "Nominees Full List". Archived from the original on November 8, 2014. Retrieved July 28, 2016.
  20. People's Choice Awards 2015: The winner's list, Entertainment Weekly, Retrieved January 8, 2015