Evan Almighty is a 2007 comedy film, and sequel to the 2003 film Bruce Almighty. It was directed by Tom Shadyac and stars Steve Carell, and Lauren Graham, with Morgan Freeman reprising his role as God. Evan Almighty was released in cinemas on June 22, 2007. After jumping from Jim Carrey to Steve Carell as lead actor, production of the film began in January 2006. Several visual effect companies were used to provide CGI for the numerous animals and climactic flood scene at the end of the film.
Director Tom Shadyac focused on ensuring that the film made a positive environmental impact during filming and, along with Universal Pictures, stressed that the animals' conditions were acceptable despite PETA objections. Evan Almighty was heavily marketed to religious groups and had its premiere on June 10, 2007. An immense budget made the film the most expensive comedy film produced at the time. The film received multiple poor reviews and earned $31.1 million in its opening weekend. Shortly after the film's release, a soundtrack debuted on July 3, 2007.
Though Evan Almighty was very hyped, especially with churchgoers, and had a budget double that of Bruce Almighty's, it performed under expectations. On its first weekend, it opened in 5,200 screens in 3,604 theaters and earned about $31.1 million (on its first two opening days the film earned $11.4 million and $8.3 million on Sunday). The opening was less than half of Bruce Almighty's $68 million weekend ($85 million counting Memorial Day). Nikki Rocco, the president of distribution for Universal Pictures declared "We never expected it to be much higher...it is not unusual for family films to open at a level like this and build. This film will have legs." Despite the unfavorable opening, it managed to remain at the third top spot at the box office in its second week, before dropping to fifth place in its third week.
Internationally, the film also opened in first place in Russia and Ukraine, earning $1.5 million in Russia with 329 venues and $179,000 in the Ukraine at 64 locations. The gross in the opening weekends for the two countries was 10% and 11%, respectively, bigger than the opening for Bruce Almighty. Altogether as of August 27, 2007, the film has earned $131,168,156 with $98,946,795 in the U.S. and $32,221,361 in the international box office.
The film received poor reviews from multiple critics, only earning a 24% approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes with 41 positive reviews out of 173 reviews counted and a 37/100 score at Metacritic. Richard Roeper in his review of the film commended Jim Carrey for not reprising his role in "three of the worst sequels of all time", which included Dumb and Dumberer, Son of the Mask, and Evan Almighty. He continued on to write "Evan Almighty is a paper-thin alleged comedy with a laugh drought of biblical proportions, and a condescendingly simplistic spiritual message." Several reviews credit Carell's performance to significantly improving the humor of the film. Brian Orndorf, of eFilmCritic.com, wrote "As a crowd-pleasing, undemanding matinee diversion, "Evan Almighty" is a far more satisfying production than "Bruce [Almighty]," and that, to me, is a great thing. Even if the nonsense gets under your skin from the first frame, it’s hard to ignore that Carell is a natural at this leading man business."
Before Evan Almighty was released, it was nominated for "Best Summer Movie You Haven't Seen Yet" at the 2007 MTV Movie Awards. Competing against seven other nominees, it lost to Transformers. According to box office figures, the film is the second highest-grossing film about "Supernatural Comedies with Religious Elements" according to Box Office Mojo.Wikipedia
