Lipinski as Stuart Ian Holm as Reverend Grissom Dimitra Arliss as Dahnya Anne Betancourt as María Helen Stenborg as Sister Joseph Reception Box office The film opened at #7 at the North American box office making $9.4 million in its opening weekend. It went on to gross only $40.4 million worldwide, below its $65 million budget. Critical response Bless the Child received almost universally negative reviews from critics. Robert Koehler of Variety was critical of the plot and production values, and wrote: "Combines the most rudimentary of Catholic-inspired good vs. evil plots with visual effects that would barely pass muster in episodic TV." Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times said the film "opens strongly" but soon "lapses into an exercise in foolishness." Rita Kempley of The Washington Post wrote: "The scariest thing about this hokey bombast is that it got made in the first place." Elvis Mitchell of The New York Times called it "A supernatural soap opera." Vicky Edwards of the Chicago Tribune gave it a mixed review, calling it "Entertaining, but it doesn't add enough to the genre to make it truly blessed." Film critic Bruce Kirkland felt that Bless the Child was mocking Scientology in the guise of the fictional cult "The New Dawn". Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a 3% rating based on reviews from 111 critics. The site's consensus states: "Bless the Child squanders its talented cast on a plot that's more likely to inspire unintentional laughs than shivers." It is ranked #64 on their list of the 100 worst films of all time. On Metacritic it has a score of 17 indicating "overwhelming dislike". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale. Accolades The film was nominated for one Razzie Award, Worst Actress for Kim Basinger, along with I Dreamed of Africa, but lost to Madonna for The Next Best Thing. References External links 2000 films 2000 horror films 2000 psychological thriller films American serial killer films American supernatural horror films American horror thriller films 2000s English-language films Fictional portrayals of the New York City Police Department Films about the New York City Police Department Films about autism Films about Catholicism Films about Satanism Films based on American horror novels Films directed by Chuck Russell Films produced by Mace Neufeld Films scored by Christopher Young Films set in New York City Films set