According to Box Office Mojo on November 15, many good family and redemptive movies for various aged audiences continue to do well at the box office even after many months. Here they are according to current box office ranking: Hacksaw Ridge, Deepwater Horizon, Sully, The Secret Life of Pets, Pete’s Dragon, Finding Dory, Queen of Katwe, I’m Not Ashamed, Priceless, and Greater. Sonoma Christian Home has provided many stories, interviews, and reviews for these movies. (Use the search engine on Sonoma Christian Home to read more about these movies.)
Hacksaw Ridge is a comeback Christian movie for director Mel Gibson. It is rated R due to brutal military violence. It is appropriate for older teens through adults. It is about Desmond Doss, played by Andrew Garfield, who is an heroic conscientious objector serving as an unarmed medic during the intense battle of Okinawa in World War II. This movie has received many good reviews.
Sonoma Christian Home provides an interview with a real Christian survivor of Deepwater Horizon who is depicted as a key character in the movie. This gripping film is about the offshore drilling rig Deepwater Horizon, which exploded during April 2010 and created the worst oil spill in U.S. history. This redemptive movie focuses on the real- life heroes and heroines in this disaster and includes prayer and divine provisions in the midst of danger, as does Sully.
Sonoma Christian Home presents another exclusive interview with the screenwriter for Sully in which he tells about relying on prayer to write the winning screenplay. Sully is about the “Miracle on the Hudson” in which Captain Sullenberger saved the lives of all his flight by landing in the Hudson River. Tom Hanks performs skillfully the everyman heroic captain, Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger.
The Secret Lives of Pets is an animated comedy about what pets do alone at home and in their adventures when they are lost. It is an entertaining, redemptive family movie with moral themes.
Mike Williams (Mark Wahlberg) and Felicia Williams (Kate Hudson) in ‘Deepwater Horizon.’ Photo Credit: David Lee
Pete’s Dragon is a Disney live-action with great heart. Robert Redford, as wood carver Mr. Meacham, brings warm, captivating acting to the movie. His daughter, Grace works as a forest ranger. The mysterious 10-year-old Pete has no family or home but comes into Meacham’s and Grace’s lives. This fantasy, family movie with no foul elements has many redemptive themes: value of the traditional and extended family; angels in disguise (Elliot the dragon is Pete’s guardian angel); needing eyes to see wonders; need to protect the innocent; value of loyalty and more.
Finding Dory is about Dory finding her biological family. It is delightfully entertaining for all ages. It has no perverse elements and has moral themes.
Disney presents Queen of Katwe. It has received many good reviews. It follows a Ugandan slum girl’s rise from a hopeless future to that of an international chess player. David Oyelowo (Selma) plays Robert Katende, a missionary and refugee of Uganda’s civil war who as a chess teacher sees potential in 9-year-old Phiona Mutesi. Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave) plays her mother.
Sonoma Christian Home provides stories and interviews for I’m Not Ashamed. It is another powerful movie about real-life heroines and heroes in the true story of Rachel Joy Scott and the Columbine High School shooting. It is tragic but also inspirational. The ensemble acting in this movie is believable and captivating. When Rachel Joy Scott refused to deny her Lord and Savior in her final moments at Columbine High School, her life was taken.
Sadie Robertson, Beth Nimmo, and Korie Robertson. Beth is the mother of Rachel Joy Scott whose story is told in the movie ‘I’m Not Ashamed’.Photo Courtesy of PureFlix
She recorded her prayers and faith journey in her journal that became the basis for her parents’ books about her life and for the movie I’m Not Ashamed (PG-13). See the Sonoma Christian Home interview with Rachel Scott’s mother, Beth Nimmo, who tells how our Lord prepared not only her daughter, but herself and has enabled her to work with high school students to avoid tragedies in their lives.
Priceless is another heroic movie based on true events. It is about a down-on-his luck man who drives a truck all night to earn some fast money, not knowing it contains human cargo for sale. When he discovers that his “cargo” is two sisters being sold into human trafficking, James must decide whether to walk away or stay and fight for these girls. This movie exposes the evils of the sex trade.
Sonoma Christian Home provides a powerful interview for this movie with Luke Smallbone who, with his brother Joel, are a Grammy Award and Dove Award-winning Christian pop music duo, For King and Country.
Greater is an underdog football story and is also based on true events. This film is about Brandon Burlsworth, who is considered one the greatest walk-on, non-scholarship players in college football history. In his small hometown, Burlsworth is mostly known for his horn-rimmed glasses and genuine character.
With the support of his older brother, Marty, and their struggling single mom Barbara, Brandon walks on to the Arkansas Razorback team in 1994. He succeeds in the face of seemingly impossible odds.
Many good redemptive movies for various ages are in movie theaters for the third week of November. The top redemptive movie picks in theaters are the following: Hacksaw Ridge (R), I’m Not Ashamed (PG-13), Priceless (PG-13), Greater (PG), Queen of Katwe (PG), Deepwater Horizon (PG-13), and Sully (PG-13).
Further, on the horizon are many redemptive and family movies. November 23, Disney’s Moana is due in theaters. Watch for an exclusive interview on Sonoma Christian Home with animator, Mark Henn, who is a Christian and one of the most renowned animators.
December 16, Collateral Beauty with Will Smith comes to theatres. Watch Sonoma Christian Home for an exclusive interview with writer, Ali Loeb, who is also a Christian. Collateral Beauty looks like a deeply profound film about healing after tragedy.
James (portrayed by Joel Smallbone) kisses his young daughter goodbye in ‘Priceless.’
Disney’s Star Wars: Rogue One comes to theaters December 16. Fences with Denzel Washington and Viola Davis looks promising for December 25. It is about an African-American father who struggles with race relations in the United States, while trying to raise his family in the 1950s. Watch for stories and interviews on Sonoma Christian Home for these movies.
Next year in January, Silence, with Liam Neeson and Andrew Garfield, is about two Jesuit priests in the 17th century who face violence and persecution when they travel to Japan to locate their mentor and propagate Christianity.
On January 13, Patriots Day with Mark Wahlberg, about the Boston Marathon, looks promising. January 20, we can look forward to The Resurrection of Gavin Stone and on February 10, God Bless the Broken Road. Both of these are PureFlix movies. February 17, The Heart of a Man with producer Brian Bird is due in theaters. March 17, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, is due out in live action and the exciting trailer was released earlier this week.
Other redemptive movies due in theaters in March and April include: Same Kind of Different as Me (March 17), Second Coming of Christ (March 17), and The Case for Christ (April 7).
Family movies due in theaters in June 2017 include: Guardians of the Galaxy 2 (June 5), Cars 3 (June 16), and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (June 26), and November 3, Disney’s Thor: Ragnarok and December 15, the eighth episode of the Star Wars franchise.
Further, for 2017, AFFIRM Films is producing, All Saints and Sony Pictures Animation is producing The Star, for Christmas.
For 2018, the following Disney movies are scheduled for theaters: Gigantic (Jack and the Beanstalk), Avengers: Infinity War, the Han Solo prequel, and Incredibles 2 (animated). In 2019, Disney’s Avengers: Infinity War — Part II and Toy Story 4 (animated) are scheduled.
Many other promising family and redemptive movies are in development for theaters: Do You Believe 2, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew, Ten Commandments, King David, Apostle Paul (with Hugh Jackman), Pontius Pilate, Butterfly Circus, The Adventures of Tintin 2, Touchdown on the Tundra, and The Passion of the Christ 2.
Continue to research movie choices before you see them. All that glitters is not gold.
To learn more about this author, please visit Dr. Diane Howard
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