''I Can Only Imagine'' is a 2018 American
Christian biographical
A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or c ...
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...
directed by the
Erwin Brothers and written by Alex Cramer, Jon Erwin, and Brent McCorkle, based on the story behind the group
MercyMe
MercyMe is an American contemporary Christian music band founded in Edmond, Oklahoma. The band consists of lead vocalist Bart Millard, percussionist Robby Shaffer, bassist Nathan Cochran and guitarists Michael Scheuchzer and Barry Graul.
The b ...
's song
of the same name, the best-selling Christian single of all time. The film stars J. Michael Finley as
Bart Millard, the lead singer who wrote the song about his relationship with his father (
Dennis Quaid
Dennis William Quaid (born April 9, 1954) is an American actor known for a wide variety of dramatic and comedic roles. First gaining widespread attention in the late 1970s, some of his notable credits include '' Breaking Away'' (1979), '' The ...
).
Madeline Carroll
Madeline Carroll (born March 18, 1996) is an American actress known for starring as Juli Baker in '' Flipped'', as Molly Johnson in '' Swing Vote'', as Farren in '' The Spy Next Door'', and as Willow O'Neil in ''The Magic of Belle Isle''.
Ear ...
,
Trace Adkins
Trace may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
* ''Trace'' (Son Volt album), 1995
* ''Trace'' (Died Pretty album), 1993
* Trace (band), a Dutch progressive rock band
* ''The Trace'' (album)
Other uses in arts and entertainment
* ''Trace' ...
,
Priscilla Shirer
Priscilla Shirer (born December 31, 1974) is an American author, motivational speaker, actress, and Christian media personality, and evangelist. Her father is Dallas mega-church pastor Tony Evans and her brother is musician Anthony Evans. Retr ...
, and
Cloris Leachman
Cloris Leachman (April 30, 1926 – January 27, 2021) was an American actress and comedian whose career spanned nearly eight decades. She won many accolades, including eight Primetime Emmy Awards from 22 nominations, making her the most nomina ...
also star.
''I Can Only Imagine'' was released in the United States on March 16, 2018. It was a box office success, grossing $86 million worldwide against a production budget of $7 million, earning more than twelve times its budget. It is the fifth highest-grossing music biopic and sixth highest-grossing Christian film of all-time in the United States. Some critics praised it as inspiring and noted it as an improvement compared to other faith-based films, while others called it flat and by-the-numbers. At the 2018
Dove Awards
A Dove Award is an accolade by the Gospel Music Association (GMA) of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the Christian music industry. The awards are presented annually. Formerly held in Nashville, Tennessee, the Dove Award ...
, the film won "Inspirational Film of the Year".
Plot
Ten-year-old Bart Millard lives with his mother and abusive father Arthur in Texas. One day, Bart's mother drops him off at a Christian camp, where Bart meets Shannon. Upon his return from camp, Bart finds that his mother has left and movers are removing her belongings. Bart angrily confronts Arthur, who denies that his abusiveness was the reason she left.
Years later, in high school, Bart and Shannon are dating. Bart plays football to please Arthur, but is injured, breaking both ankles and ending his career. The only elective with openings is music class, so he reluctantly signs up. Initially, Bart is assigned to be a sound technician, but after overhearing him singing, the director casts him in the lead role in the school production of ''
Oklahoma!
''Oklahoma!'' is the first musical written by the duo of Rodgers and Hammerstein. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs' 1931 play, ''Green Grow the Lilacs''. Set in farm country outside the town of Claremore, Indian Territory, in 1906, it tell ...
''. Bart overcomes his reluctance and gives an impressive performance, but does not tell Arthur, who finds out the night of the show when he happens to see a flyer for the show in a diner. Arthur suddenly collapses in pain, and finds out he has cancer, which he hides from Bart. The following morning, Bart antagonizes Arthur, who smashes a plate over his head. At church, Shannon sees the blood and presses Bart to open up, but he responds by breaking up with her, and leaves town to seek his fortune in the city.
Bart joins a band in need of a singer, and convinces
Christian music
Christian music is music that has been written to express either personal or a communal belief regarding Christian life and faith. Common themes of Christian music include praise, worship, penitence, and lament, and its forms vary widely aroun ...
producer Scott Brickell to manage the band and secure a showcase in
Nashville. Bart surprises Shannon and invites her to tour with the band, and is confused when Shannon flatly refuses. In Nashville, Brickell introduces Bart to established artists
Amy Grant
Amy Lee Grant (born November 25, 1960) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. She began in contemporary Christian music (CCM) before crossing over to pop music in the 1980s and 1990s. She has been referred to as "The Queen of Christia ...
and
Michael W. Smith
Michael Whitaker Smith (born October 7, 1957) is an American musician who has charted in both contemporary Christian and mainstream charts. His biggest success in mainstream music was in 1991 when " Place in This World" hit No. 6 on the '' ...
, but is unable to convince record executives to sign the band, who do not believe the band, now performing as "
MercyMe
MercyMe is an American contemporary Christian music band founded in Edmond, Oklahoma. The band consists of lead vocalist Bart Millard, percussionist Robby Shaffer, bassist Nathan Cochran and guitarists Michael Scheuchzer and Barry Graul.
The b ...
", is good enough. Devastated, Bart quits the band, but Brickell thinks that Bart needs to resolve issues in his personal life, so Bart reconciles with the band and asks them to wait for him, and leaves to return home.
Bart returns home late at night, and is confused to find that Arthur has prepared breakfast for him the next morning. Arthur claims to have become a Christian, but Bart is skeptical and refuses to forgive him, and leaves. In anger and despair, Arthur smashes his old Jeep, which he had asked Bart to help him restore. Bart attempts to drive away in Arthur's pickup, but discovers the terminal cancer diagnosis, and returns to Arthur. Bart forgives his father, and the two form a deep bond, but Arthur soon dies of his illness.
After Arthur's funeral, Bart rejoins the band and writes "
I Can Only Imagine", and also calls Shannon and apologizes to her for the first time since their breakup. Brickell sends the demo tape to several artists, including Grant, who, deeply moved by the song, asks to record it herself as her next single, and Bart, who just wants the song to be heard, accepts. On stage, Grant begins the song, but can't bring herself to sing it, and calls Bart on stage from the audience to sing it himself. Bart's performance earns an enthusiastic ovation, and he reunites with Shannon, who was also in attendance. The band releases the song as their first single, achieving success on both Christian and mainstream radio.
Cast
* J. Michael Finley as
Bart Millard
** Brody Rose as Young Bart Millard
* Tanya Clarke as Adele Millard
*
Cloris Leachman
Cloris Leachman (April 30, 1926 – January 27, 2021) was an American actress and comedian whose career spanned nearly eight decades. She won many accolades, including eight Primetime Emmy Awards from 22 nominations, making her the most nomina ...
as Meemaw Leona Millard, Bart's grandmother
*
Madeline Carroll
Madeline Carroll (born March 18, 1996) is an American actress known for starring as Juli Baker in '' Flipped'', as Molly Johnson in '' Swing Vote'', as Farren in '' The Spy Next Door'', and as Willow O'Neil in ''The Magic of Belle Isle''.
Ear ...
as Shannon Street, Bart's girlfriend
** Taegan Burns as Young Shannon Street
*
Dennis Quaid
Dennis William Quaid (born April 9, 1954) is an American actor known for a wide variety of dramatic and comedic roles. First gaining widespread attention in the late 1970s, some of his notable credits include '' Breaking Away'' (1979), '' The ...
as Arthur Millard, Bart’s abusive father
*
Trace Adkins
Trace may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
* ''Trace'' (Son Volt album), 1995
* ''Trace'' (Died Pretty album), 1993
* Trace (band), a Dutch progressive rock band
* ''The Trace'' (album)
Other uses in arts and entertainment
* ''Trace' ...
as Scott Brickell, MercyMe's manager
*
Priscilla Shirer
Priscilla Shirer (born December 31, 1974) is an American author, motivational speaker, actress, and Christian media personality, and evangelist. Her father is Dallas mega-church pastor Tony Evans and her brother is musician Anthony Evans. Retr ...
as Mrs. Fincher, Bart's teacher
* Nicole DuPort as
Amy Grant
Amy Lee Grant (born November 25, 1960) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. She began in contemporary Christian music (CCM) before crossing over to pop music in the 1980s and 1990s. She has been referred to as "The Queen of Christia ...
* Jake B. Miller as
Michael W. Smith
Michael Whitaker Smith (born October 7, 1957) is an American musician who has charted in both contemporary Christian and mainstream charts. His biggest success in mainstream music was in 1991 when " Place in This World" hit No. 6 on the '' ...
*
Jason Burkey as Mike Scheuchzer
*
Mark Furze
Mark Furze (born 7 May 1986) is an Australian actor and musician.
Career
Furze starred in several productions by the Orange, New South Wales, Orange Theatre Company, playing the lead role in a version of ''Oliver!'' aged 10. His first TV appea ...
as Nathan Cochran
* Randy McDowell as Jim Bryson
* Cole Marcus as Robbie Shaffer
*
Gianna Simone as Dr. Avondale
*
Kevin Downes as Singleton
*
Delilah
Delilah ( ; , meaning "delicate";Gesenius's ''Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon'' ar, دليلة, Dalīlah; grc, label= Greek, Δαλιδά, Dalidá) is a woman mentioned in the sixteenth chapter of the Book of Judges in the Hebrew Bible. She is loved ...
as Herself
Production
The film was announced in December 2016.
Dennis Quaid joined the cast in January 2017.
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
actor J. Michael Finley, who sang all the songs in the movie, makes his film debut as Bart Millard.
The same month, it was announced that the film was slated for release in the spring of 2018.
In August 2017,
Lionsgate
Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, doing business as Lionsgate, is a Canadian-American entertainment company. It was formed by Frank Giustra on July 10, 1997, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is currently headquartered ...
and
Roadside Attractions
Roadside Attractions is an American production company and film distributor based in Los Angeles, California, founded on July 27, 2000, by Howard Cohen and Eric d’Arbeloff, specializing largely in independent films. Lionsgate
Lions Gate ...
signed on as distributors for the film for a nationwide release in the United States.
Reception
Box office
''I Can Only Imagine'' grossed $83.4 million in the United States and Canada and $1.8 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $85.2 million, against a production budget of $7 million.
It is the fourth-highest grossing music biopic of all-time in the United States, behind ''
Bohemian Rhapsody
"Bohemian Rhapsody" is a song by the British rock band Queen, released as the lead single from their fourth album, '' A Night at the Opera'' (1975). Written by lead singer Freddie Mercury, the song is a six-minute suite, notable for its lack o ...
'', ''
Straight Outta Compton'' and ''
Walk the Line
''Walk the Line'' is a 2005 American biographical musical romantic drama film directed by James Mangold. The screenplay, written by Mangold and Gill Dennis, is based on two autobiographies authored by singer-songwriter Johnny Cash, 1975's '' M ...
''. It is also the highest-grossing
independent film of 2018.
''I Can Only Imagine'' was released on March 16, 2018, alongside ''
Tomb Raider
''Tomb Raider'', also known as ''Lara Croft: Tomb Raider'' from 2001 to 2008, is a media franchise that originated with an action-adventure video game series created by British gaming company Core Design. Formerly owned by Eidos Interactive, ...
'' and ''
Love, Simon'', and was originally projected to gross $2–4 million from 1,620 theaters in its opening weekend.
However, after making $6.2 million on its first day (including $1.3 million from Thursday night previews), weekend estimates were increased to $14 million.
It ended up grossing $17.1 million, exceeding expectations and finishing third at the box office behind ''
Black Panther'' and ''
Tomb Raider
''Tomb Raider'', also known as ''Lara Croft: Tomb Raider'' from 2001 to 2008, is a media franchise that originated with an action-adventure video game series created by British gaming company Core Design. Formerly owned by Eidos Interactive, ...
''. 67% of the opening weekend audience was female while 80% was over the age of 35.
It was the fourth best-ever opening for a faith-based film, following ''
The Passion of the Christ
''The Passion of the Christ'' is a 2004 American epic biblical drama film produced, directed and co-written by Mel Gibson and starring Jim Caviezel as Jesus of Nazareth, Maia Morgenstern as Mary, mother of Jesus, and Monica Bellucci as Mary ...
'' ($83.8 million), ''
Son of God'' ($25.6 million) and ''
Heaven Is for Real'' ($22.5 million). In its second weekend the film was added to 624 additional theaters and dropped just 19% to $13.8 million, again finishing third. It was added to another 395 venues and finished fourth in its third weekend, making $10.4 million (including $3 million on
Easter Sunday
Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the ''Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel P ...
).
The film has been translated and distributed in several countries, including
China, according to co-director Jon Erwin:
Critical response
On
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The website's critical consensus reads, "''I Can Only Imagine''s message will have the most impact among Christian audiences, but overall, its performances and storytelling represent a notable evolution in faith-based cinema." On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, the film has a weighted average score of 30 out of 100, based on eight critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by
CinemaScore gave the film a rare average grade of "A+" on an A+ to F scale.
[
'']The Arizona Republic
''The Arizona Republic'' is an American daily newspaper published in Phoenix. Circulated throughout Arizona, it is the state's largest newspaper. Since 2000, it has been owned by the Gannett newspaper chain. Copies are sold at $2 daily or at $3 ...
''s James Ward gave the film 4 stars out of 5 and wrote, "Too often faith-based films — say anything with Kirk Cameron
Kirk Thomas Cameron (born October 12, 1970) is an American actor and evangelist. He first gained fame as a teen actor playing Mike Seaver on the ABC sitcom ''Growing Pains'' (1985–1992), a role for which he was nominated for two Golden Gl ...
or the terrible '' God's Not Dead'' series — tend to preach to the choir or hector their audience. The Erwins’ films — ''I Can Only Imagine'' definitely among them — are more inclusive, charitable of spirit and hopeful, all qualities that are always appreciated, be they rooted in Christian faith or otherwise." David Ehrlich of IndieWire
IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Holl ...
gave the film a "C−" saying: "There’s a reason why all of these movies are so amateurishly made; why they all end with links to religious websites; why they all look like they were shot on an iPhone by a Walmart-brand Janusz Kaminski who lit each interior like the white light of heaven was streaming through every window...Art can be affirmation, but affirmation cannot be art."
Faith-based reviewers mostly gave the movie positive reviews. Megan Basham of ''World
In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...
'' magazine called Quaid "the real workhorse" and added that he "bears the heavy load of convincingly giving us both a monster and a repentant dad longing to connect with his son. Quaid impresses on both counts." Michael Foust of the ''Southern Baptist Texan'' gave the film 5 out of 5 stars and wrote, "The screenplay is gripping, the soundtrack is perfect, and the performances by Quaid and Finley had me squirming, laughing and crying."
Home media
The film was released on iTunes and Google Play
Google Play, also known as the Google Play Store and formerly the Android Market, is a digital distribution service operated and developed by Google. It serves as the official app store for certified devices running on the Android operating sy ...
on June 5, 2018, and on DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
and Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...
on June 12, 2018. ''I Can Only Imagine'' was the no. 1 film in DVD sales and rentals for the weeks ending June 17 and June 24, 2018. As of February 2020, ''I Can Only Imagine'' has earned $24 million in home media sales.
Awards and nominations
See also
*Kingdom Story Company
Kingdom Story Company (formerly known as Kingdom Studios), is an American film and television studio in partnership with Lionsgate specializing in the production of Christian films. It was founded in 2018 by the Erwin Brothers (Jon and Andrew Er ...
* I Still Believe (film)
References
External links
*
*
*
*
*
''I Can Only Imagine''
at '' History vs. Hollywood''
{{Erwin Brothers
American drama films
Drama films based on actual events
Roadside Attractions films
2018 films
Films set in Nashville, Tennessee
Films set in Texas
Films shot in Oklahoma
Films about Christianity
Films directed by the Erwin Brothers
2018 drama films
Biographical films about singers
Films produced by Kevin Downes
Films about child abuse
2010s English-language films
2010s American films