NASHVILLE (WordNews.org) March 26, 2012 — October Baby was among the top 10 earners this weekend, making $1.72 million at just 390 theaters, Entertainment Weekly reported.

Co-director Jon Erwin told EW: “Yeah, I was surprised.  We didn’t make the film because we wanted some sort of big box office return — we were just passionate about the subject matter.”

The story was inspired by abortion survivor Gianna Jessen, who says of the movie: “I laughed so hard, cried so hard and healed.”

“The reason we made the movie is because I saw Gianna Jessen speak,” Erwin told WordNews.org. “I feel bad but I had no idea that those two words went together, ‘abortion’ ‘survivor.’ I was just devastated by it, mesmerized by it. It was shattering, deeply moving.”

Jessen’s “spunky, can-do attitude” helped in the inspiration department as well.

“I thought, Man, this needs to be looked at, this needs to be seen.”

The feedback from critics has been “all over the map,” Ewin said.

“It’s crazy that some critics get it and say, ‘Wow, this is well done. Others just totally dismiss it and others hate it. They call it, ‘This right-wing propaganda.’ But it’s not propaganda. I wasn’t an activist before I made this movie.”

But the truth changed that.

“I simply  was exposed to the truth. And I was so shattered by the truth  that I felt like there was going to be a splinter in my mind until I made this movie. So that’s the journey I encourage everyone to go on. We didn’t t necessarily tell people what to think [in the film]  as much as we wanted them to stop and think for themselves.”