An extract from an article discussing the power of critics

1. Extract taken from the article: War Room Success Defies Critics -
Aug 30th
2015
“War Room,” the low-budget movie about the power of prayer that broke out at the box office this
weekend, is the latest example of audiences making a hit out of a film that the critics panned.
It’s not unusual for critics and audiences to be divided, particularly in the summer, since
superhero and action films aren’t necessarily intended to be high art, simply crowd-pleasers. Last
year, Michael Bay‘s “Transformers: Age of Extinction,” Angelina Jolie‘s “Maleficent” and
“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” all were beaten up by critics but went on to box-office success.
But rarely is the divide between critics and the crowds so great as it is when it’s a religiously-
themed movie, and “War Room” provided a spectacular example of that this weekend. Ripped by
critics, the film doubled the predictions of box-office analysts with $11 million and came in
second, leaving other high-profile openers in the dust. It even knocked defending champ
“Straight Outta Compton” out of the No. 1 spot nationally on Friday, its first day of release by
Sony’s Affirm Films.
“War Room” was produced, directed and co-written by Alex Kendrick and features a mainly
African-American cast topped by T.C. Stallings and New York Times best-selling Christian author
Priscilla Shirer. The two play a middle-aged couple struggling in their marriage until they meet a
stranger (Karen Abercrombie) who points out the power of prayer.
It has been reviewed by 12 critics on aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes, a relatively low number.
Of the reviews, ten are negative and two are positive, adding up to an overall rating of just 17
percent “fresh.”
That’s in line with the low scores for other recent faith-based films including “God’s Not Dead” (16
percent fresh), “Son of God” (21 percent) and “Mom’s Night Out.” (16 percent), “Exodus: Gods
and Kings” (27 percent). Darren Aronofsky‘s “Noah” bucked the trend with a 77 percent positive
ratings — though many of the Christian faithful stayed away from theaters — and the Greg
Kinnear film “Heaven Is for Real” was at 46 percent.
With so many negative reviews of films in this genre, it’s easy to wonder if Christian-themed
movies just rub reviewers the wrong way. Another factor may be that critics and journalists in
general are typically seen as a group more secular than religious.
“These movies aren’t aimed at the critics,” Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Rentrak,
told TheWrap. “Faith-based movies are preaching to the converted, literally. That’s what they do
and they serve an important purpose in that, for years and years, those audiences have felt that
Hollywood was leaving them out, and not making movies for them.”