War Room is a 2015 American Christian drama film directed by Alex Kendrick and written by him and Stephen Kendrick. It is the Kendrick brothers' fifth film and their first through their subsidiary, Kendrick Brothers Productions. The film was produced by Provident Films, Affirm Films and TriStar Pictures in partnership with the Kendrick brothers.
The film was released by Sony Pictures Releasing in North American theaters on August 28, 2015, and received generally negative reviews from secular critics, while Christian critics gave generally positive reviews, and became a box office success and a sleeper hit, grossing $74 million worldwide including $67.8 million domestically to become the 7th highest-grossing Christian film in the United States.
Plot
Drug salesman Tony Jordan and his wife, estate agent, Elizabeth Jordan, appear outwardly successful; they have a large house, plenty of money, and a beautiful daughter named Danielle. Behind the façade, however, Tony and Elizabeth's relationship is strained. Tony is callous, verbally abusive and thinking about cheating on Elizabeth. In addition, because his job requires frequent travel, he is almost never there for his daughter.
Elizabeth goes to work with an elderly woman, Miss Clara, to sell her house. Miss Clara senses the stress Elizabeth is under, and suggests that Elizabeth fight for their marriage by praying for Tony. Miss Clara shows Elizabeth a special closet she has dedicated to praying, which she calls her "War Room"; as she puts it, "in order to stand up and fight the enemy, you need to get on your knees and pray." As Elizabeth starts to seriously pray for her husband, Tony leaves for a business trip, having dinner with a beautiful woman who invites him back to her flat. Just as he is about to leave with her, he becomes nauseous and runs to the bathroom to vomit.
Shortly afterward, Tony is fired for stealing drug samples; unbeknownst to Elizabeth and Danielle, he has been illegally selling those stolen samples to make even more money. Realising he has hit rock bottom, Tony rededicates his life to God. He now realises that he has to return both the stolen samples and his ill-gotten gains, even though revealing what he's done could send him to prison. Tony meets with his former boss and confesses; his former boss is moved by his willingness to admit his wrongdoing and make amends, and decides not to press charges. Tony begins to show an interest in his daughter's skipping rope skills and offers to participate with her and her friends in the upcoming double Dutch competition at the local community center. Tony and his daughter's team takes second place in the competition, creating a new bond between him and his daughter.
Elizabeth successfully sells Miss Clara's house to a retired pastor who realises someone has been praying in the closet. Shortly afterwards, Tony is offered a job as the director of the community center.
Cast
Priscilla Shirer as Elizabeth Jordan
T.C. Stallings as Tony Jordan
Karen Abercrombie as Ms Clara Williams
Alex Kendrick as Coleman Young
Michael Jr. as Michael
Alena Pitts as Danielle Jordan
Beth Moore as Mandy
Tenae Downing as Veronica Drake
Ben Davies as Policeman
Production
For this film, Alex and Stephen Kendrick decided to move away from Sherwood Pictures, the church-based film production company which had previously produced their films. In part the brothers left because they felt that the movie-making was distracting from other parts of the church's ministry, with Alex telling The Hollywood Reporter that they felt "We were the elephant in the room." Instead, the brothers produced the film through FaithStep Films and released it through Sony Pictures. Regarding the title of the film, director Kendrick says "We called it 'War Room because, like the military, we should seek God for the right strategy before going into combat. By combat, I mean daily issues we face in our culture." The brothers got their inspiration from prayer, with Alex stating that he believes even the idea of a war room was given to them by God.
Filming
Principal photography took place over a three-month period during the summer of 2014 in several North Carolina locations, including Charlotte, Kannapolis, Concord, Hickory and Birkdale Village in Huntersville. At Oakwood Cemetery in Concord, two different scenes set 40 years apart were filmed. Through special effects, the Charlotte skyline, larger trees and some additional headstones were added.