I Can Only Imagine is a 2018 American Christian drama film directed by the Erwin Brothers and written by Alex Cramer, Jon Erwin and Brent McCorkle, based on the story behind the MercyMe song of the same name, the best-selling Christian single of all time. The film stars J. Michael Finley as Bart Millard, the lead singer who wrote the song about his relationship with his father (Dennis Quaid). Madeline Carroll, Priscilla Shirer, Cloris Leachman, and Trace Adkins also star.
I Can Only Imagine was released in the United States on March 16, 2018. It has grossed $83 million worldwide against a production budget of $7 million, and is the third highest-grossing music biopic of all-time in the United States. Some critics praised it as inspiring and noted it as an improvement compared to other faith-based films, while others called it flat and by-the-numbers.
Video I Can Only Imagine (film)
Plot
Coming from a home with an abusive father, 10-year-old Bart Millard is dropped off at a Christian camp by his mother, where he meets Shannon. Upon his return from camp, Bart finds his mother has left and movers are removing her belongings, leading to a physical confrontation with his father Arthur, who takes custody of him.
Years later, Millard is in Lakeside high school and dating Shannon. Hoping to impress his father, he begins playing football. However, he is injured, breaking both ankles and ending his career. In order to make up the credits he would miss from football, he signs up for music class, the only available class left. Initially, Millard is assigned to be a sound technician. After the director catches him singing in the empty auditorium of Lakeside high school, she casts him as Curly, the lead role in the school production of Oklahoma. He doesn't tell his father of his role in the play, and while Bart has risen to the singing demands of the part, Arthur subsequently collapses with severe abdominal pain, but refuses to tell Bart or Shannon about his cancer diagnosis. The following morning, Millard voices his frustrations with his father and is assaulted by his father, who smashes a plate over his head. Shannon presses Bart to open up, but he responds by breaking up with her and leaving to seek his fortune in the city after graduation.
Millard then connects with the band who would become MercyMe, and eventually attracts the attention of Christian music producer Scott Brickell, who coaches Millard and gets them a showcase in Nashville, leading to meetings with Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith. Millard has been unable to reconcile with Shannon, who rejects his invitation to tour with the band to their upcoming Nashville showcase. While the band felt their performance was the best of their career, industry representatives reject the band as not being good enough to sell records. In despair, Millard quits the band. After talking with Brickell, who encourages him to resolve his issues with his father, Millard rejoins the band but asks they wait for him to confront his father and settle the conflict before they play again.
Millard returns home and is greeted enthusiastically by his father, who prepares breakfast for him the next morning. His father claims to have become a Christian, but Bart is initially skeptical and rejects his father's offer to start over. In anger, Arthur takes a baseball bat and hits his old Jeep, which he had hoped to repair with his son. As Bart prepares to leave, he finds out his father has terminal cancer. Bart and his father reconcile and form a deep bond before Arthur dies of his illness.
After his father's funeral, Millard rejoins the band and writes "I Can Only Imagine". Brickell sends the demo tape to several artists, including Grant, who, deeply moved by the song, asks to record it herself as her next single. The band accepts Grant's offer. Millard is seated in the audience when Grant intends to unveil the song live in concert. However, Grant decides that Millard should be the one to sing the song, and offers it back to him, calling him to the microphone to sing it before the large audience. Millard's unexpected performance is wildly applauded and he reunites with Shannon, who had also been in attendance at the concert. The band releases the song as their first single, achieving success on Christian and mainstream radio.
Maps I Can Only Imagine (film)
Cast
- J. Michael Finley as Bart Millard
- Brody Rose as Young Bart
- Dennis Quaid as Arthur Millard, Bart's father
- Cloris Leachman as Meemaw, Bart's grandmother
- Madeline Carroll as Shannon, Bart's girlfriend
- Taegen Burns as Young Shannon
- Trace Adkins as Scott Brickell, MercyMe's manager
- Priscilla Shirer as Mrs. Fincher, Bart's teacher
- Nicole DuPort as Amy Grant
- Jake B. Miller as Michael W. Smith
- Mark Furze as Nathan
Production
The film was announced in December 2016. Dennis Quaid joined the cast in January 2017. Broadway actor J. Michael Finley makes his film debut as Bart Millard. The same month, it was announced that the film was slated for release in the spring of 2018. In August 2017, Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions signed on as distributors for the film for a nationwide release in the United States.
Reception
Box office
As of May 13, 2018, I Can Only Imagine has grossed $82.4 million in the United States, and Canada and $1.1 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $83.5 million, against a production budget of $7 million. It is the third-highest grossing music biopic of all-time in the United States, behind Straight Outta Compton and Walk the Line.
The film was released on March 16, 2018, alongside Tomb Raider and Love, Simon, and was originally projected to gross $2-4 million from 1,620 theaters in its opening weekend. However, after making $6.2 million on its first day (including $1.3 million from Thursday night previews), weekend estimates were increased to $14 million. It ended up grossing $17.1 million, exceeding expectations and finishing third at the box office behind Black Panther and Tomb Raider. 67% of the opening weekend audience was female while 80% was over the age of 35. It was the fourth best-ever opening for a faith-based film, following The Passion of the Christ ($83.8 million), Son of God ($25.6 million) and Heaven Is for Real ($22.5 million). In its second weekend the film was added to 624 additional theaters and dropped just 19% to $13.8 million, again finishing third. It was added to another 395 venues and finished fourth in its third weekend, making $10.4 million (including $3 million on Easter Sunday). The film will be released on DVD, Blu-ray and available at iTunes Store and Google Play Store, June 5, 2018.
Critical response
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 70% based on 23 reviews, and an average rating of 6/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "I Can Only Imagine's message will have the most impact among Christian audiences, but overall, its performances and storytelling represent a notable evolution in faith-based cinema." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 29 out of 100, based on 7 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A+" on an A+ to F scale, one of fewer than 80 films in the history of the service to earn such a score.
The Arizona Republic's James Ward gave the film 4/5 stars and wrote, "Too often faith-based films -- say anything with Kirk Cameron or the terrible God's Not Dead series -- tend to preach to the choir or hector their audience. The Erwins' films -- I Can Only Imagine definitely among them -- are more inclusive, charitable of spirit and hopeful, all qualities that are always appreciated, be they rooted in Christian faith or otherwise." David Ehrlich of IndieWire gave the film a "C-" saying: "There's a reason why all of these movies are so amateurishly made; why they all end with links to religious websites; why they all look like they were shot on an iPhone by a Walmart-brand Janusz Kaminski who lit each interior like the white light of heaven was streaming through every window...Art can be affirmation, but affirmation cannot be art."
References
External links
- Official website
- I Can Only Imagine on IMDb
- I Can Only Imagine at the TCM Movie Database
- I Can Only Imagine at AllMovie
- I Can Only Imagine at Box Office Mojo
- I Can Only Imagine at History vs. Hollywood
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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