Film Ordinary Angels

Directed by Jon Gunn and written by Meg Tilly and Kelly Fremon Craig, it is based on true events that transpired during the 1994 North American cold wave. It stars Hilary Swank, Alan Ritchson, Nancy Travis, and Tamala Jones.

Ordinary Angels
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Jon Gunn
Screenplay by	Meg Tilly Kelly Fremon Craig
Produced by	Jon Berg Roy Lee Dave Matthews Johnathan Dorfman Sarah Johnson David Beal Kevin Downes Jon Erwin Andrew Erwin
Starring	Hilary Swank Alan Ritchson Nancy Travis Tamala Jones
Cinematography	Maya Bankovic
Edited by	Parker Adams
Music by	Pancho Burgos-Goizueta
Production companies	Vertigo Entertainment Stampede Ventures Kingdom Story Company
Distributed by	Lionsgate
Release date	February 23, 2024 (2024-02-23)
Running time	118 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$12–13 million
Box office	$19.4 million

The film was released by Lionsgate on February 23, 2024. It received generally positive reviews from critics and has grossed $19 million.

Inspired by a true story, in 1994 Louisville, Kentucky, a hairdresser rallies the community to help a widowed father save the life of his critically ill young daughter after Louisville is hit by a major snowstorm from the 1994 North American cold wave.

Dave Matthews pitched the story to Jon Berg who brought the story to Lionsgate who brought it to Kevin Downes and the team at Kingdom Story Company. In March 2022, the film was officially announced with Swank and Ritchson starring, with Jon Gunn directing and writing the most recent draft of the script with Jon Erwin. Meg Tilly and Kelly Fremon Craig contributed an earlier draft and received writing credit. Filming occurred in Winnipeg in April 2022 and Albany, New York, in June 2022.^{[citation needed]}

Ordinary Angels was released theatrically by Lionsgate on February 23, 2024. The film was originally scheduled to be released on October 13, 2023, before the date was delayed to avoid competition with the concert film, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour. It is scheduled to be released in the United Kingdom by Columbia Pictures on April 26, 2024.

Box office

In the United States and Canada, Ordinary Angels was released alongside Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – To the Hashira Training and Drive-Away Dolls, and was projected to gross $5–7 million from 2,800 theaters in its opening weekend. It ended up debuting to $6.5 million, finishing third at the box office. The film made $3.9 million in its second weekend (a drop of just 38%), finishing third.

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 84% of 90 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.7/10. The website's consensus reads: "With a dash of grace and circumstance, this sweet display of humanity is stabilized by Hilary Swank in a role that plays to the heartstrings of all Ordinary Angels." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 57 out of 100, based on 15 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a rare grade of "A+" on an A+ to F scale.

Courtney Howard of Variety wrote, "In Swank's capable hands, the character's predictable arc is made formidable, conjuring sympathy and strength in spades. Plus, she brings a naturalism to the scenes shared with Mitchell and Hughes, rising stars in their own right, who efficiently deliver precociousness with the right amount of potency".