New Movies March 18: Miracles and Divergence

There's been significant turn-over at the movie box office over the past few weeks, with lots of new releases, big openings and new winners at the top of ticket-sales charts. This week will be different, as only two new wide releases hit theaters. By the end of the weekend, there will likely be a new number one film, but there probably isn't going to be a dramatically successful new hit.

The week's first new wide release is Miracles from Heaven, a faith-based drama about a young girl who claims to have gone to heaven during a near-death experience. This one is nearly identical in premise to 2014's Heaven Is for Real, and that film turned out to be a hit with Christian audiences. Miracles from Heaven is getting a Wednesday release date to give it a head start on the rest of the week's movies.

The other big new release is The Divergent Series: Allegiant, the third installment in the young-adult series starring Shailene Woodley as a young adventure heroine in a dystopic world. Like The Hunger Games, the Divergent franchise seems to be heading for a relatively tepid end; the second Divergent film fell $20 million short of the first film's total domestic gross, and this third installment is forecast to open far short of the second film's take. Still, there's a good chance that Allegiant will take the top spot away from Zootopia, which has been number one for the past two weeks.