I Can Only Imagine

"The song you know. The story you don't."

2018 1h 50m EN

🙌

7.5

BANGER

★7.5TMDB · 516

MusicDrama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Growing up in Greenville, Texas, Bart Millard suffers physical and emotional abuse at the hands of his father, Arthur. When Arthur becomes terminally ill, he finds redemption by embracing his faith and rediscovering his love for his son. Years later, Bart's troubled childhood and mended relationship with his dad inspires him to write the hit song "I Can Only Imagine" as singer of the Christian band MercyMe.

“The song you know. The story you don't.”

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Cast

J. Michael Finley
Bart Millard
Madeline Carroll
Shannon
Dennis Quaid
Arthur
Trace Adkins
Brickell
Cloris Leachman
Memaw
Jason Burkey
Mike
Mark Furze
Nathan
Randy McDowell
Jim

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Jon Erwin
Writers: Alex Cramer, Jon Erwin, Brent McCorkle
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Grossed $86M — a 12.3× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 8 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "I Can Only Imagine Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Jon Erwin, shot by Kristopher S. Kimlin. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Brent McCorkle. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Brent McCorkle shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

J. Michael Finley and Madeline Carroll and Dennis Quaid carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "The song you know. The story you don't.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Jon Erwin directs. Kristopher S. Kimlin behind the camera. Brent McCorkle scores. Brent McCorkle cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Grossed $86M — a 12.3× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.
2Released 8 years ago.
3Part of the "I Can Only Imagine Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
4Directed by Jon Erwin, shot by Kristopher S. Kimlin. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Brent McCorkle. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Brent McCorkle shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7J. Michael Finley and Madeline Carroll and Dennis Quaid carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "The song you know. The story you don't.".
9IMDB entry: tt6450186 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 13 themes, including "musician", "texas", "abusive father", "redemption".

The technical file

Cinematography: Kristopher S. Kimlin
Original score: Brent McCorkle
Editing: Brent McCorkle
Production design: Joseph T. Garrity
Costume design: Anna Redmon
Runtime: 110 min · 1h 50m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $7,000,000
Box office: $86,086,881
Return: 1230% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG
IMDB: I Can Only Imagine (2018)

Part of

I Can Only Imagine Collection

I Can Only Imagine is the inspirational true story of Christian singer-songwriter Bart Milland.

Also by

Jon Erwin

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

There-Can-Be-Only-One2018-03-18
★ 9/10
*Disclaimer: This isn't any sort of "official" review. This is just one ordinary movie-goer's opinion... Lovely movie. 😊 I honestly wasn't expecting much, but I wanted to support MercyMe, and I always like to throw my support whenever a movie theater plays a good, clean movie like this one. I was actually quite amazed by the production. It had the look of a big budget film (I have no idea how much the budget was), and was lacking the cheese element prevalent in so many Christian movies. It was remarkably well cast, and I was particularly impressed by both guys who played Bart - the 11 year old Bart (Brody Rose), and the teenage/20something Bart (J Michael Finley). I also LOVED Trace Adkins as Brickell. I took my non-believer friend to it, because he likes MercyMe, and has enjoyed Bart's testimonies whenever I've taken him to a concert, and he liked the movie as well. He even teared up, and he is NOT an emotional guy! I cried too, but I'm an emotional girl! 😉 I definitely recommend it. I'm not a person who enjoys going to the movie theater, and usually will only go in special circumstances. I think mainstream America playing a Christian movie in the theater is a special circumstance, and if you want to see more of this happening, I hope you'll go support it.
Simon Foster2018-04-19
"Though it will never be championed as an insightful work of either religious art or patriarchal psychology, I Can Only Imagine does manage to be a good film about a great song..." Read the full review here: http://screen-space.squarespace.com/reviews/2018/3/23/i-can-only-imagine.html
Wuchak2019-02-18
★ 6/10
The story behind the popular Christian band Released in 2018, “I Can Only Imagine” is a biopic of Bart Millard (J. Michael Finley) of MercyMe, spanning his childhood, the abuse of his father (Dennis Quaid), meeting his true love (Madeline Carroll), starting the band, low-rent touring, acquiring a manager (Trace Adkins) and eventual success with the band’s titular hit. While this semi-modest inspirational flick is nowhere near as good as “Coal Miner’s Daughter” (1980) or even “La Bamba” (1987), it’s almost on par with the Johnny Cash biopic “Walk the Line” (2005), although it cost five times LESS and lacks the polish. Finley is an otherwise unknown actor, but he makes for a fine protagonist. And Carroll is winsome and curvy; unfortunately, her part is small. It’s too by-the-numbers, but I could relate to the father/son issues and the story builds to an inspiring and emotional performance of their hit song. The film runs 1 hour, 50 minutes and was shot entirely in Oklahoma. GRADE: B-/C+