The biopic about Hall-of-Fame quarterback Kurt Warner is the highest grossing Christian movie since the coronavirus pandemic began in 2020.
With the kind of revenue it generated during its theatrical run - $26.5 million over two months - it comes as little surprise that American Underdog garnered the most support among voters in the 2022 K-LOVE Fan Awards in the Film/Television Impact category. One of five entries, but the only theatrically released feature, it beat out the Netflix movie Blue Miracle and three documentaries: The Case for Heaven, Journey with Jesus, and The Jesus Music.
Both that last entry and American Underdog are from the Christian filmmaking duo of Andrew Erwin and Jon Erwin and were produced through the partnership between their Kingdom Story Company and Lionsgate, one of Hollywood's major studios. Thanks to that relationship, the Alabama brothers are now putting out more faith-based films than anyone else in the business, which we recently reported, and they are making them at a very high level.
This picture tells the Cinderella story of Super Bowl Champion quarterback Kurt Warner - a devout Believer - and is representative of the redemptive and uplifting real-life material the Erwins favor. In keeping with their successful approach to past films, they brought in well-known actors for the principal parts in this one, including Zachary Levi in the lead, and Dennis Quaid and Oscar-winner Anna Paquin in supporting roles.
The K-LOVE Fan Awards, put on annually by the national Christian radio network K-LOVE, focus mostly on music and there were plenty of headliners from the world of Christian contemporary music among this year's winners. You can see the entire list of honorees via this link to the show's website.