By EEW Magazine Entertainment // Faith-based Films

Jesus saves—and sells—at the box office.

Over the weekend, faith-based film, Overcomer, from evangelical filmmakers Alex and Stephen Kendrick, proved as much, scoring an $8 million opening, landing in the #3 spot, and earning an A+ CinemaScore from moviegoers.

The overtly Christian-focused film shows characters praying to the Lord for guidance, discussing Jesus’ sacrifice, and encouraging Bible study—a Christian movie-lover’s dream. The script drives home the point that “a relationship with Christ is what should define the believer,” says LA Times.

According to Box Office Mojo, the indie drama “outperformed all expectations,” making this the third consecutive hit for the Kendrick Brothers, whose two previous films, 2015’s War Room, and 2011’s Courageous, went on to enjoy success.

The story of Overcomer centers on a small town’s severe economic struggle that forced many of its star athletes to relocate. This was quite a discouraging new development for Coach John Harrison (Kendrick), who was hoping for a winning basketball season.  To make matters worse, Principal Brooks, played by War Room star, Priscilla Shirer, ordered John to take over the cross-country squad, which has only one runner, an asthmatic new student Hannah (Aryn Wright-Thomson).

Feeling angry and frustrated, the coach, who wanted no parts of this assignment, by a not-so-chance encounter, stumbled across a very sick man in a hospital room.

Thomas Hill (Cameron Arnett), who had lost his sight due to diabetes, just so happened to be Hanna’s father and a former cross-country star himself. Through that encounter and the conversation that followed, the coach did some real spiritual soul-searching, and discovered God’s hand in the midst of a seemingly defeated circumstance.

War Room grossed over $67 million following an $11.3 million opening. Perhaps Overcomer will overtake that box office record.

Overcomer is in theaters now.