Burning Question: Reverse-Engineering Sleeper Jesus Hit 'Heaven Is for Real'

The low-budget "Heaven Is for Real" has outperformed "Transcendence" at the box office. Is this about overexposure for Johnny Depp; underexposure for Jesus; or something else altogether?

That second thing, there.

I'm sure there are plenty of folks who consider themselves starved for Johnny Depp movies, despite the fact that we get one to two a year on average; despite his possible overexposure, we saw about $11 million worth of people lined up for "Transcendence" this past weekend in the U.S.

But now let’s compare that figure with "Heaven Is for Real," which featured a cute little boy; excellent actor Greg Kinnear; and a faith-friendly story about the hereafter. Mix all of that up with an Easter weekend filled with families needing something to do after the egg hunt, and you get at least $21.5 million worth of fandom in one opening weekend.

[Related: Why Johnny Depp Doesn't Need to Reboot Career After Another Bomb]

Arizona moviegoer Stephanie Hilliard called "Heaven Is for Real" "so well orchestrated that I felt entertained as well as touched completely."

Not bad for a flick that cost only $12 million to produce. Only "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" appears to have done better for that period. (Even the kid-tastic "Rio 2" has been outperformed, and that was a cartoon. A cartoon!)

The reason for all the "Heaven"-ly love? Let's start with a pent-up demand among believers.

According to Jonathan Bock, president and founder of Grace Hill Media, which helped market the film "Noah," there are 2 billion Christian consumers worldwide, and they have a lot of money to spend.

And yet, says Chris Stone of the group Faith-Driven Consumer — which reviews films based on their relevance to Christian audiences — there's still a dearth of religiously themed fare at the googleplex.

[Related: Finding the Child Actor at the Heart of 'Heaven Is for Real']

"I saw a news report last week that said faith-driven consumers don't go to the movies very often," Stone tells me. "Do they not go because they don't like movies, or is it because Hollywood is not connecting with them?

"We have said that once Hollywood got into a stride of producing movies that resonate with faith-driven consumers that they would be very pleased, and we are seeing that with 'Son of God' [which has grossed nearly $62 million worldwide], 'God's Not Dead' [which has grossed more than $48 million domestically], and now with 'Heaven Is for Real.'"

[Related: Will the Faithful Float 'Noah's' Boat?]

And then there's "Noah." The Darren Aronofsky-directed movie, based on the Book of Genesis disaster tale, has done extremely well, with a current international gross nearly $291 million. (It was made for less than half of that figure.)

"'Noah was a success because he is a character who is known whether you're religious or not," Bock tells me. "Is there anyone in the world who doesn't know who Noah and his ark are? In any given month, two-thirds of this country darkens the door of a church."

Last fall, the Kirk Cameron-powered "Unstoppable," an inspirational, faith-based story of a man's cancer battle, debuted with a higher per-screen average than any Hollywood movie in general release that week. The film played to sold-out crowds after being heavily promoted in church groups.

As for "Heaven Is for Real," it has still another weapon in its arsenal: its source material. The film is based on a nonfiction book that, as Deadline put it, "wouldn’t leave the New York Times bestseller's list."

"You have built-in awareness" thanks to a book that has spent 178 weeks on the Times paperback nonfiction list, Bock says.

Still more faith-friendly films are expected to debut later this year, including Patricia Heaton’s "Mom's Night Out"; "Exodus: Gods and Kings," starring Christian Bale; and the Angelia Jolie-directed "Unbroken." So don't expect "Heaven"'s box office performance to be a spring 2014 fluke.

"Faith-based films are walking on water right now as far as the box office is concerned," Exhibitor Relations box-office analyst Jeff Bock says. "This is a serious trend in Hollywood right now and will likely continue over the next couple years... until the horse is dead."

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Leslie Gornstein is an entertainment writer and the host of the weekly Hollywood gossip podcast The Fame Fatale.