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There’s a Christian movie that has just been released in the United States which is breaking all kinds of records. And it’s on course to be one of the best — or at least, one of the most popular — movies of the year.

Indeed, there are some who are even anticipating that it might well play a significant part in a much broader spiritual revival.

The film is appropriately called, Jesus Revolution, starring Kelsey Grammer (of the TV show, Fraser fame). And according to Faithwire:

Filmmaker Jon Erwin’s new movie “Jesus Revolution” is captivating audiences — and making history.

In fact, the movie scored an A+ Cinema Score rating, a rare feat in Hollywood and an indication audiences truly love the film. A Cinema Score rating, ranging from A+ to F, measures fans’ reactions to major feature film releases on opening night.

Getting an A+ is hard to accomplish, but, beyond that measure, “Jesus Revolution” broke another boundary: it made Erwin the first filmmaker in cinematic history to achieve four A+ Cinema Scores.

It’s an accomplishment even famed director Steven Spielberg has never attained. Erwin told CBN’s Faithwire he’s deeply honoured by the achievement.

“It’s amazing,” he said. “I’m grateful.”

It’s sadly a rare thing to find a film these days which is well produced and has an edifying message. But if the reaction in the US is anything to go by, Jesus Revolution is shaping up to be one of those precious commodities. Breitbart news is reporting:

After only two weeks in release, a little Christian film called Jesus Revolution has grossed $30.5 million, which is a better domestic take than five of this year’s Best Picture nominees. In fact, it’s a better domestic haul than four of those Best Picture nominees combined…

What makes this accomplishment even more satisfying is that Jesus Revolution has accomplished this after just two weeks in theaters. Every one of the Best Picture nominees listed below has already completed or is at the end of its theatrical run…

The Banshees of Inisherin– $5 million

The Fabelmans– $2 million

Tár– $7 million

Triangle of Sadness– $5 million

Women Talking– $9 million

Combined, those five films only grossed a total of $44 million, which Jesus Revolution will likely top before its theatrical run is over.

The movie centres around a young Greg Laurie who has gone on to become a leading evangelical Baptist author and pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, California. And his extremely popular little book, Jesus Revolution: How God Transformed an Unlikely Generation and How He Can Do It Again, obviously forms the basis for the film. TGC (US) summarises the basic plot though, as follows: 

Jon Erwin (I Can Only Imagine), who codirected Jesus Revolution with Brent McCorkle, prides himself on telling true stories. In this case, he recalls drawing inspiration from the striking visual of Time magazine’s iconic cover from June 21, 1971, which announced the countercultural “Jesus Revolution” and featured a psychedelic, purple-hued illustration of Christ’s face. The saga behind the image was even more arresting: a hippie revival began in California in the late ’60s and swept the country, with youth nationwide trading one countercultural M.O.— sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll—for another: the teachings of Jesus Christ.

“It boiled down to this moment,” Erwin explains, “where this pastor, Chuck Smith, opened up his doors—off a dare, really, from his daughter—to this group of people he didn’t understand, that most of the established church would say couldn’t come to church.”

The people in question were hippies: youth in the counterculture who had dropped out of mainstream society and its “square” values in favour of free love, folk music, drug trips, and antiwar activism. The attitude of many American churches at the time, Erwin says, was that hippies were welcome—but only if they took baths, cut their hair, got jobs, and re-joined society first.

“Chuck just threw his doors open to these people as they were, and they flooded in,” Erwin adds. And it resulted in “this nitro-meeting-glycerine moment that ended up changing and shaping America.”

Due to the explicit spiritual content — maybe that should carry a trigger warning — it’s not going to be every movie goer’s cup of tea. But if the initial response to the film in America is anything to go by, this shaping up to be one of the best movies of the year.

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Photo by Jesus Revolution Movie.