Once again, the financial success of a faith-based film is baffling Hollywood, even though history has shown such projects can pay off handsomely.

But, much of outside-Hollywood America has always appreciated faith-based films, Lifezette notes in its review of the new movie, “I Can Only Imagine”:

“Whenever a faith-based film performs well at the box office, many in the industry may be surprised — while the rest of the country is not. This trend continued over the weekend with the release of ‘I Can Only Imagine.’”

In just its first weekend, the movie, which “embraces the theme of forgiveness, specifically when it comes to family members,” took in more than twice its total budget and beat out more traditional Hollywood fare– surprising the industry, Lifezette reports:

“In its first weekend in theaters, ‘I Can Only Imagine’ earned $17.1 million on a $7 million budget. The performance is one The Hollywood Reporter called a ‘surprise upset’ because the film outperformed major releases such as ‘A Wrinkle in Time’ and “Love, Simon.’”

But, “Hollywood studios and entertainment media should not be surprised that faith-based and faith-friendly films succeed at the box office at this point,” the article explains, providing examples of some of the successful Christian-themed films of 2017: