The pro-life film has earned nearly three times its budget in the first month.Unplanned, a pro-life movie that seeks to educate on the realities of the abortion industry, has proved an outright success, as it earned $17.2 million during its first month in theaters. The film has turned a profit since opening weekend, when the movie made on a budget of $6 million drew in $6.1 million in ticket sales.
Now, supporters of the film are looking to expand its reach, taking it to the streets. In Washington, D.C., one such group, The Christian Defense Coalition, is planning to screen the movie on the sidewalk, right in front of a Planned Parenthood center. The event was originally intended to take place on Good Friday, but weather conditions prohibited the screening. They have yet to set a new date, but the plans are still in the works.
CBN reports that Rev. Patrick Mahoney, the director of the Christian Defense Coalition, commented on sponsoring this public viewing, “Our hope is to launch a nationwide campaign to eventually show Unplanned in front of Planned Parenthood abortion clinics across America.”
Rev. Mahoney went on to mention that the film has been getting a lot of pushback from social media, mentioning an advertising blockade by Google and Twitter. Some TV stations, like Hallmark, Bravo, The Food Network, and Lifetime have refused to run advertisements.
The movie, based on the pro-life transformation of a former Planned Parenthood abortion clinic director, Abby Johnson, is already having a profound affect on viewers. In his recent testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee‘s Subcommittee on the Constitution, Chuck Konzelman, director of Unplanned, claimed 94 abortion clinic workers have sought help from Abby Johnson’s non-profit, And Then There Were None, to leave their jobs.
Unplanned is influencing more than just Planned Parenthood’s workers; it is also having a profound affect on their patients. Ashley Bratcher, the actress who portrays Abby Johnson, recently told Fox News that many fans have approached her to say that the movie changed their mind about their own abortions:
“The response had been incredibly positive. I mean, through it all – this has been the most rewarding and fulfilling role I’ve ever had in my entire career,” Bratcher told Fox & Friends. “To be able to hear someone come up to you and say, ‘I was so affected by your work that I decided instead of having an abortion, that I’m now going to have my child’ – I don’t know how to really explain the way that feels to know that you could have potentially just saved a life.”
“There’s not a lot of actors who get to say that, and I am so honored to be able to have a part of this,” she added.
