UNIVERSAL CITY, CALIF. — At an event Friday night that drew Hollywood producers and stars such as Jon Voight, Jim Caviezel, Cindy Bond, David A.R. White, and Pat Boone, Movieguide Founder and Publisher Dr. Ted Baehr announced that the percentage of Hollywood movies with at least some Christian, redemptive content hit an all-time high of 67 percent in 2018.
“We’ve been (reviewing movies) since 1985 and we found a pattern,” Baehr told hundreds of filmmakers, stars, and others in attendance at the 27th Annual Movieguide Awards Gala at the Universal Hilton Hollywood. “We found a pattern that showed that every year it was getting better. When we started there was only one movie with positive, faith-based content.
“Now, of the top 10 movies in 2018, 90 percent had some strong or very strong redemptive, morally-uplifting content. Last year it was only 80 percent. That means people are actually seeking out these movies more and more. And the percentage of movies with positive faith, values, morals and decency has increased up to 67 percent. Last year it was 62 percent. I didn’t think it would get any higher, but that’s because of you and God’s grace.”
Baehr made the announcement during the event that honored filmmakers and stars for the Best Family Movie of the Year, along with the Best 2018 Movies for Mature Audiences, the Epiphany Prizes for the Most Inspiring Movie and Television Program, The Faith & Freedom Awards for Movies and Television, and the Grace Awards for Most Inspiring Performance in Movies and Television.
While the Movieguide Awards’ winners will be announced after the event is broadcast on the Hallmark Channel February 25, Movieguide did release the names of the nominees, including films such as God’s Not Dead: A Light in the Darkness, I Can Only Imagine, Paul, Apostle of Christ, Unbroken: Path to Redemption, among many others.
Caviezel, who played Jesus in Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ and Luke in Paul, Apostle of Christ, said what captured his attention in the script was how it focused on the end of Paul’s life and how so many extraordinary gifts came out of “very ordinary and often very weak people” that speaks to “every one of us.”
“Paul’s message of Jesus’ transforming love spoke to people two thousand years ago and still captivates people today,” Caviezel said. “And just like Luke’s role in history is cemented with Paul, my performance in this film would have been incomplete without the great James Faulkner.”
Faulkner, an English actor best known for playing Pope Sixtus IV in the television series Da Vinci’s Demons and Randyll Tarly in the television series Game of Thrones, said Paul wasn’t an easy role to play.
“I think the film is an honest look at him,” Faulkner said. “The Catholic historians have been very satisfied with the film and my portrayal of Paul. I gave him — I think the expression was — nobility, which is not necessarily easy to do when you’ve been in solitary confinement for two years effectively. So, I was very happy that the church approved of the film.”
In alphabetical order, the Movieguide Awards’ nominees include:
Best Movies for Families
God’s Not Dead: A Light in Darkness
The Grinch
I Can Only Imagine
Incredibles 2
Mary Poppins Returns
Paddington 2
Paul, Apostle of Christ
Peter Rabbit
Ralph Breaks the Internet
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Best Movies for Mature Audiences
Ant-Man and the Wasp
Chappaquiddick
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
Little Pink House
Mission: Impossible — Fallout
A Quiet Place
Skyscraper
Solo: A Star Wars Story
Unbroken: Path to Redemption
Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
Epiphany Prize for Most Inspiring Movie
God’s Not Dead: A Light in Darkness
The Grinch
I Can Only Imagine
Paul, Apostle of Christ
Unbroken: Path to Redemption
Epiphany Prize for Most Inspiring Television Program
Billy Graham: An Extraordinary Journey (Fox Network)
Daredevil: Episode 3.13, “A New Napkin” (Netflix)
Elvis Presley: The Searcher: Part I and Part II (HBO)
Manifest: Pilot Episode (NBC-TV)
Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Episode 5.22, “The End” (ABC Entertainment)
Medal of Honor: “Hiroshi Hershey Miyamura” (Netflix)
A Shoe Addict’s Christmas (Hallmark Channel)
When Calls the Heart: The Greatest Christmas (Hallmark Channel)
Faith & Freedom Award for Movies
Ant-Man and the Wasp
Chappaquiddick
Incredibles 2
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
Little Pink House
Paddington 2
Faith & Freedom Award for Television
Daredevil: Episode 3.13, “A New Napkin”
Manifest: Pilot Episode
Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Episode 5.22, “The End”
Medal of Honor: “Hiroshi Hershey Miyamura”
Grace Award Nominees for Movies
God’s Not Dead: A Light in Darkness
David A.R. White
I Can Only Imagine
Dennis Quaid
J. Michael Finley
Paul, Apostle of Christ
Jim Caviezel
A, Quiet Place
John Krasinski
Emily Blunt
Unbroken: Path to Redemption
Samuel Hunt
Merritt Patterson
Grace Award Nominees for Television
Little Women
Emily Watson
Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Episode 5.22, “The End”
Henry Simmons
Chloe Bennet
Daredevil: Episode 3.13, “A New Napkin”
Joanne Whalley
A Shoe Addict’s Christmas
Candace Cameron Bure
Jean Smart
When Calls the Heart: The Greatest Christmas
Lori Loughlin
Photo of Jon Voight: Troy Anderson
Troy Anderson is a Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist and best-selling author.
