Strong Opening for Blair Underwood’s ‘On the 7th Day’

Blair Underwood in "Woman Thou Art Loosed: On the 7th Day"

*TD Jakes’ “Woman Thou Art Loosed: On The 7th Day” was a surprise hit among specialty releases over the weekend, averaging a solid $6,376 in 102 locations, and managing a higher per theater average than any other movie among the top 15 grossers, according to Deadline.com.

As previously reported, the faith-based psychological thriller stars Blair Underwood and Sharon Leal as a married couple in New Orleans whose perfect lives unravel when their 6-year-old daughter is kidnapped. The abductor is a religious serial killer who symbolically murders his victims on the seventh day of captivity. As the couple races against the clock to find their child, they start to uncover devastating secrets about each other that threaten to destroy their relationship.

The plot and tone of the film is decidedly different from the 2004 film adaptation of Bishop Jakes’ self-help novel “Woman Thou Art Loosed,” which was directed by Michael Schultz and starred Kimberly Elise as a woman trying to come to terms with her legacy of abuse, addiction and poverty.

The 2004 film “was a different style, a different format, a different kind of story,” explains “7^th Day” director Neema Barnette. “I think that this story is a different kind of story. It’s a more modern film, it’s shot differently, it was conceived differently and we designed it to reach a broader audience.”

According to the weekend box office numbers, the game plan to expand the audience worked. Below, Barnette explains how she “became a better person after this film.”

Top 25 Specialty Releases at Weekend Box Office

1: Blue Like Jazz (Roadside Attractions) NEW [136 Theaters] Weekend $267K, Per Theater Average $1,963

2: Woman Thou Art Loosed: On The 7th Day (Code Black Entertainment) NEW [102 Theaters] Weekend $650K, Average $6,376

3: Monsieur Lazhar (Music Box Films) NEW RUN [19 Theaters] Weekend $120K, Average $6,310, Multiple-Run Cume, $1.8M

4. Touchback (Anchor Bay Films) NEW [50 Theaters] Weekend $75K, Average $1,500

5: Hit So Hard (Variance Films) NEW [1 Theater] Weekend $6,500

6: Life Happens (PMK/BNC) NEW [16 Theaters] Weekend $21,900, Average $1,369

7. Damsels In Distress (Sony Pictures Classics) Week 2 [22 Theaters]
 Weekend $93K, Average $4,229, Cume $178K

8. We Have A Pope (Sundance Selects) Week 2 [15 Theaters]
 Weekend $54K, Average $3,600, Cume $104K

9. Bully (The Weinstein Company) Week 3 [158 Theaters]
 Weekend $534K, Average $3,380, Cume $813K

10. October Baby (IDP/Samuel Goldwyn) Week 4 [362 Theaters]
Weekend $524K, Average $1,449, Cume $4.5M

11. The Raid: Redemption (Sony Pictures Classics) Week 4 [881 Theaters]
Weekend $1M, Average $1,139, Cume $2.56M

12. Jeff Who Lives At Home (Paramount Vantage) Week 5 [183 Theaters] Weekend $215K, Average $1,175, Cume $3.82M

13. Casa De Mi Padre (Lionsgate) Week 5 [121 Theaters] Weekend $92.5K, Average $764, Cume $5.7M

14. The Kid With A Bike (Sundance Selects) Week 5 [70 Theaters] Weekend $175K, Average $2,500, Cume $765K

15. Footnote (Sony Pictures Classics) Week 6 [84 Theaters] Weekend $210K, Average $2,505, Cume $1.11M

16. Friends With Kids (Roadside Attractions) Week 6 [112 Theaters]
Weekend $144K, Average $1,286, Cume $6.98M

17. Salmon Fishing In The Yemen (CBS Films) Week 6 [435 Theaters]
Weekend $911K, Average $2,094, Cume $6.08M

18. Boy (Paladin) Week 7 [18 Theaters]
Weekend $22K, Average $1,248, Cume $175K

19. Undefeated (The Weinstein Company) Week 9 [17 Theaters]
Weekend $17K, Average $1,000, Cume $487K

20. Rampart (Millennium Entertainment) Week 10 [21 Theaters] Weekend $10K, Average $486, Cume $900K

21. W.E. (The Weinstein Company) Week 11 [17 Theaters]
Weekend $13K, Average $765, Cume $544K

22. Coriolanus (The Weinstein Company) Week 13 [18 Theaters]
 Weekend $19K, Average $1,056, Cume $664K

23. The Iron Lady (The Weinstein Company) Week 16 [146 Theaters] Weekend $101K, Average $692, Cume $29.84M

24. A Separation (Sony Pictures Classics) Week 16 [91 Theaters] Weekend $93K, Average $1,025, Cume $6.85M

25. The Artist (The Weinstein Company) Week 21 [121 Theaters] Weekend $104K, Average $860, Cume $44.05M