The following is excerpted from the Deseret News. To read the full article, CLICK HERE. 

In an age where streaming services make watching entertainment instantaneous, putting out an entire season of a show in theaters might seem like a big gamble. Can you get people through the door if they know the show will appear on streaming eventually?

But that’s just what the historical drama “The Chosen” set out to do with Season 4.

The numbers from Box Office Mojo have rolled in from the past weekend and the show ranked second overall. It opened with just shy of $6 million and as of Sunday, its domestic gross sits at $7.37 million. Those numbers are across 2,280 theaters. “Argylle,” a spy action thriller, took the No. 1 slot, opening with $17.4 million over the weekend at 3,605 theaters.

“Obviously we’re thrilled with our second-place finish as a 3+ hour TV show in theaters. But even better were the reports of full rooms sitting in silence through the closing credits because they were so moved,” Dallas Jenkins, the show’s creator, said in a statement sent to the Deseret News.

It’s worth remembering that the show will have two more tests to go through as there are two more batches of episodes coming out, but it’s a strong early start. Episodes 4 to 6 will premiere on Feb. 15 followed by Episodes 7 and 8 on Feb. 29.

The show has a similar runtime to your typical Martin Scorsese film, which is to say that it goes three hours long. Getting an audience in the theater for a long program can be difficult. These numbers are showing that there’s a core audience of the show who is willing to do just that.

To read the full article, CLICK HERE.