The Kingdom of Heaven - a film about the European Crusader's last attempt to retake the Holy Land from Muslim-control - opened last weekend and topped the US box offices and others worldwide.

The epic tale "Kingdom of Heaven" features the story of a blacksmith turned-warrior who joins his knightly father in Jerusalem to retake the city for Christendom with military force. The movie is set between the second and third crusades – there were eight crusades in total – and is largely a film that does not have overt religious undertones.

The Christians and Muslims in the film are vaguely religious, but their distinctive faiths are not explained or emphasised at all in the movie. The movie, unlike last year’s The Passion of the Christ, was therefore marketed as a secular film in the secular market.

At Monday’s count, the Kingdom of Heaven grossed $20 million – fractions of Passion’s debut – in the U.S. market. The film played in a US-wide release of 3,216 theatres and averaged $6,219 per cinema, according to AP.

The movie also opened in international markets and earned an additional $56 million.

Although on the surface the film appears to be a great success, many critics have been pointing out that the film cost over $150 million to be made and that the first week's takings have been much lower than an epic film of this type would be expected to take.






Theresa Kavenga
Christian Today Correspondent