Though only distributed in a small amount of theaters – 724 to be exact – Bishop T.D. Jakes' 'Not Easily Broken' made approximately $5.6 million at the box office and debuted on the charts at number nine.
That means the movie averaged nearly $7,735 per screen it was shown on. Of the films in the top ten at the box office this past weekend, 'Not Easily Broken' was the third highest earner, with only 'Gran Torino' ($10,337 on 2,808 screens) and 'The Unborn 2009' ($8,950 on 2,357 screens) making more money.

With that said, the reality is that if 'Not Easily Broken' was released in more theaters, it would have likely made significantly more money!

Though my colleague Wilson Morales' review of 'Not Easily Broken' in 'It's All Reel' is pretty bad, the film going experience is subjective and I for one don't share his sentiments at all!
I found the film, based on the Bishop Jakes' book by the same name, to be wonderfully engaging, well-executed and faith-filled without being stereotypically preachy.

The movie is a heartfelt, slice of life story about the real struggles of real people.
It challenges viewers to find balance and put perspective on your priorities so that when adversity rears its head, you're equipped to face it!

Without spoiling the movie, I'll just say that if Jennifer Aniston had seen this film several years ago, maybe she'd still be married to Brad Pitt! Of the performances, Taraji P. Henson is expectantly brilliant!
Morris Chestnut is engaging on-screen and the strongest he's been in years. Jenifer Lewis does what she does best, and Neicy Nash is humorous and warm on camera. Comedian Kevin Hart is absolutely hilarious and steals all of his scenes in my opinion!
My only gripe with this film is a trivial one and it has to do with actor Wood Harris. I'm not sure what's going on with his lips and if they looked the way they did because it was a part of his character, but they were distracting and annoyed me during his close-ups. But if my biggest grievance with this film is the appearance of a character's lips on camera, then rest assured this is a movie you'll definitely enjoy. Back to the technical stuff, usually Sony Screen Gems who distributed 'Not Easily Broken' is effective when it comes to opening an "urban" film.

Over the last several years, they've had successful rollouts and big returns on films catering to African-American audiences with releases like 'This Christmas,' 'First Sunday,' 'Stomp The Yard,' 'The Gospel' and others.
Unfortunately, the studio didn't apply the same type of campaign for 'Not Easily Broken.'
Typically, before a movie opens, film studios fly an assortment of journalists from all across the country to a city like Los Angeles or New York to see the film in advance and conduct interviews with the actors, producers and directors involved with the film. This is what we in the journalism world call a "junket."

Studies have proven – and there was a recent one done by Cassandra Butcher and Fox right around the time 'The Secret Life of Bees' opened – that studios that utilize the junket rollout for a film typically perform better at the box office.
'Cadillac Records' is another recent example of this, as it too wasn't junketed and under-performed at the box office.
Sadly, there wasn't a junket done for 'Not Easily Broken,' which I believe also impacted on the financial return at the box office not being greater.

Instead, Sony Screen Gems offered journalist the option of participating in a telephone conference call about the film and the most powerful of the film influencers opted not to participate.
Let's hope this is a wakeup call to this studio and all others that you can't penny-pinch with movies like this.
Clearly the box office shows that 'Not Easily Broken' had the potential to make bigger bucks, but without being given the legs to really run its course, one will never know.