The Shack is a 2017 American drama film directed by Stuart Hazeldine and written by John Fusco, Andrew Lanham and Destin Daniel Cretton, based on the 2007 novel of the same name by William P.

[4] The film stars Sam Worthington, Octavia Spencer, Graham Greene, Radha Mitchell, Alice Braga, Sumire Matsubara, Aviv Alush, and Tim McGraw.

The story follows a grieving father who, after suffering a family tragedy, receives a mysterious invitation to visit a shack deep in the wilderness, where he confronts his darkest fears and experiences a transformative spiritual journey.

Their purpose is to help Mack understand his life from a broader perspective, free him from judgment, and guide him toward healing for himself and his family after Missy's death.

Mack spends time with each member of the Trinity, helping Jesus build a wooden box and preparing the garden with the Holy Spirit.

Papa, now in the form of an elderly Native American man, leads Mack to Missy's body, which they retrieve from a cave and prepare for burial.

Mack, in turn, seeks forgiveness for poisoning him, finally realizing that Missy's death was not a form of divine retribution for his past actions.

The film concludes with Mack rejoining his family at church, leaving the audience to ponder whether his journey to the shack was a spiritual encounter or a product of his imagination.

[1] In North America, The Shack was released on March 3, 2017, alongside Before I Fall and Logan, and was projected to gross around $10 million from 2,888 theaters during its opening weekend.

The site's critical consensus reads: "The Shack's undeniably worthy message is ill-served by a script that confuses spiritual uplift with melodramatic clichés and heavy-handed sermonizing.

However, audiences were more favorable, with CinemaScore reporting an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, and PostTrak showing an overall positive score of 85% and a 70% "definite recommend" rating.

Club criticized the film's portrayal of religious themes, saying, "Most of its running time is taken with mollifying conversations between Mack and the movie's New Age-meets-Bible Belt oversimplifications of the Holy Trinity.

[25] John Mulderig of Catholic News Service found the film to be "an intriguing endeavor" but noted several problematic theological elements.

[33] Additionally, Christian rock band Skillet released an acoustic version of their song "Stars", originally from their album Unleashed, along with a music video that was featured in the film's promotional materials.