In something of a rarity, fans of the Christian movie genre can pick and choose this weekend.
We at Christian Film Blog cannot remember a time when there was so much on offer at theaters in terms of faith-based films, and that includes from before the pandemic when the movie business was clicking on all cylinders. Two new releases join the Kendrick Brothers' Lifemark at the multiplex this weekend, starting with Running the Bases.
That baseball film stars Brett Varvel, whom we recently interviewed, and it tells a story of a coach and family man who must choose whether to publicly live out his faith or cave to pressure to keep it private. This picture debuts on more than 1,000 screens and features a strong cast of Christian actors, including Cameron Arnett, Gigi Orsillo and Todd Terry.
The second new film, Pursuit of Freedom, will prove much trickier to find since it is playing in just a handful of locations, which you can peruse in this social media post. The picture features a true story of a woman who came to faith in Christ after separation from her children and surviving years of forced prostitution, as we previously reported here. So, while it won't be easy to find it in theaters, it is available to stream on platforms like Apple TV.
That brings us to Lifemark, which stars Kirk Cameron and Alex Kendrick, who - together with Stephen Kendrick - are also executive producers of the movie. Based on actual events, the film tells the tale of a 19-year-old young man who meets his biological mother for the first time and is able to thank her for giving him up for adoption instead of choosing abortion as she originally planned. First scheduled to play for just seven days, the film was extended to two weeks after claiming a spot in the Top-10 at the box office when it opened last weekend.