This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
"Saturday's Warrior" played well on Saturday — and on Friday and Monday.
The Mormon musical had a solid opening weekend, taking in $96,041 in its first three days on nine Utah screens, according to the number-crunching site Box Office Mojo.
That figure gives "Saturday's Warrior" the 33rd spot on the weekly chart. But the movie's per-screen average of $10,671 ranked fifth, just behind "Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice."
"Saturday's Warrior" brought in plenty of money on Friday and Saturday, but dropped off sharply on Sunday — a reflection of the movie's target audience, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who are discouraged from engaging in commerce on the Sabbath.
However, according to the box-office compilation service Rentrak, "Saturday's Warrior" made another $34,828 on Monday — perhaps reflecting the Mormon tradition of Family Home Evening, when LDS families reserve time for a shared activity.
In a statement, Brandon Purdie, president of Purdie Distribution, the movie's distributor, said, "the response really has been overwhelming.… We were confident the film would perform well during its opening weekend, but it exceeded all our wildest dreams."
Purdie said the movie's distribution would expand to more Utah theaters this weekend, and movie chains have asked about opening it outside Utah, too.