“Unplanned,” a movie about an abortion clinic director who leaves her job at Planned Parenthood and becomes a pro-life activist, has reached the top DVD in sales on Amazon, according to multiple reports.
After premiering in theaters across the United States earlier this year, the pro-life movie became a box office success, reported Life Site News. The movie also became the number one selling DVD on Amazon on its first day of sales this week.
No promotion. No ads.
We’ve barely mentioned our DVD release on social media. https://t.co/D5ayotFbtq— UnplannedMovie (@UnplannedMovie) August 12, 2019
Cary Solomon, one of the directors along with Chuck Konzelman, said that the news of the movie’s acclaim is rewarding, considering the challenges and restrictions the movie faced when it was set to play in theaters, The Daily Signal reported.
The movie, which had a production budget of $6 million, grossed nearly $19 million in 19 weeks, according to Box Office Mojo.
“Unplanned” had about 235,000 DVD pre-sales without any advertisements or promotions, Soloman told The Daily Signal.
“You know, without being trite, I think the people have spoken,” Solomon said in regards to the movie’s new milestone, during an interview with The Daily Signal published on Aug. 13.
“What does that say?” Solomon told the news outlet. “It says that we have a nation that is hungry for stories about life, but not only that [but for] true stories that reveal the truth.”
.@UnplannedMovie was censored on social media, given an unfair rating, and was denied access to major advertising outlets.
It’s now not only defied box office expectations in both the U.S. & Canada, but is now the No. 1 DVD in @Amazon sales.
My latest.https://t.co/6t4vxrWTvh
— Rachel del Guidice (@LRacheldG) August 13, 2019
“Unplanned” tells the story of a Planned Parenthood employee Abby Johnson who, after having a life-changing experience while witnessing an abortion, quits her job and eventually becomes a pro-life activist. It is an “eye-opening look inside the abortion industry from a woman who was once its most passionate advocate,” according to the movie’s website.
The film faced its fair share of restrictions from mainstream media, social media, and more in order to allegedly damage the movie’s reputation and ruin its initial run on the big screen, Soloman told The Daily Signal.
Some of the obstacles the movie faced included receiving an “R” rating by the Motion Pictures Association of America despite relatively tame content, as well as censorship on search engines and social media, including tech-giants Google and Twitter.
In April, a month before the movie’s release, Google listed the genre as “drama/propaganda.” The move came just weeks after Twitter locked the film’s user account, a move that supporters of the film called unfair treatment and suppressing freedom of speech.
Commercials for “Unplanned” were also rejected by Lifetime, Hallmark Channel, HGTV, among others. The Hollywood Reporter said that Lifetime told marketers that the commercial couldn’t be aired due to “sensitive nature,” although the network previously promoted an interview with Scarlett Johansson in which she pitched Planned Parenthood.
You only have one day until #UnPlanned is available on DVD and digital download in the United States and Canada.
Go to https://t.co/N8W3iMKTIm tomorrow for details.
Then tell us: How will you change the everything with what Abby saw? pic.twitter.com/wjtQiQPqVs
— UnplannedMovie (@UnplannedMovie) August 12, 2019
Abby Johnson, who the movie was based on, shared her astonishment about the movie’s milestone a few days before its official home video release in a Facebook post: “Number one bestseller on Amazon!!! And it hasn’t even released yet!!! Go purchase yours now on Amazon, Walmart or [get] an autographed copy through our store at www.abortionworker.com.”
You only have one day until #UnPlanned is available on DVD and digital download in the United States and Canada.
Go to https://t.co/N8W3iMKTIm tomorrow for details.
Then tell us: How will you change the everything with what Abby saw? pic.twitter.com/wjtQiQPqVs
— UnplannedMovie (@UnplannedMovie) August 12, 2019
Co-director Chuck Konzelman was also pleasantly surprised by the movie’s success considering the challenges it faced leading up to its box office debut. He told The Daily Signal: “We’re continually surprised every day. We’re surprised by the obstacles, we’re surprised by how every adversity seems to contain within it the seek of an equivalent or greater benefit. We just were kind of amazed every day.”
NTD reporter Zachary Stieber and Richard Szabo contributed to this report.
