'War Room' DVD release slated for Dec. 22

ALBANY, Ga. (Christian Examiner) – The Christian movie "War Room," which shocked Hollywood by finishing No. 1 at the box office in its second weekend this summer, will be released on DVD Dec. 22, about two weeks after it will be available to churches.

"War Room" (PG) was the fifth film from the Kendrick brothers and easily their most successful yet, grossing $67.2 million so far in 11 weekends. It actually was still playing in 247 theaters last weekend, more than two months after it debuted.

The prayer-focused film opened at No. 2 on its first weekend in late August before performing a feat that is rare in Hollywood: climbing to No. 1 in a subsequent weekend. Historically, movies lose around 40-50 percent on their second weekends; "War Room" lost a mere 16.5 percent and passed the previous top film ("Straight Outta Compton") to No. 1 when that latter one lost 34 percent.

Churches that wish to show "War Room" to their congregations must buy a site license, which currently are available for pre-purchase and will be mailed beginning Dec. 8.

The Blu-ray/DVD combo pack will include a series of bonuses, including bloopers, deleted scenes and commentary by director Alex Kendrick and producer Stephen Kendrick. It also will include about a dozen featurettes.

"War Room" became the first Christian film with explicit faith content to finish No. 1 since 2004's "The Passion of the Christ."

"When we went up to No. 1 on the second weekend, we were blown away again," Stephen Kendrick previously told the Christian Examiner. "I remember waking up in denial that this was really happening – not denying that God was doing it. But that was not why we make movies; we don't make movies to compete with 'Straight Outta Compton.' Our hope is to change lives. We are so grateful that the buzz that has come in from the success of the film has caused many, many more people to be impacted spiritually by it."

For more information on purchasing the DVD, go to http://warroomthemovie.com/buy