Their most recent film, I Still Believe, is about to be available for purchase, but the Christian filmmakers are already looking ahead.
From a professional point of view, this year looked to be the best ever for Andrew Erwin and Jon Erwin. The writer/director team behind I Can Only Imagine would debut the first picture from their new Kingdom Story Company, a partnership with Lionsgate, and launch production of several other major film projects. The coronavirus scare, however, has turned the entire movie business upside down, and the Erwin Brothers did not escape unscathed.
I Still Believe, that aforementioned inaugural film, raced out to number one at the North American box office on March 13th, its first Friday in release, only to have the rug yanked out from underneath it a week later when theaters everywhere closed their doors. That measure, of course, was part of the so-called social-distancing phenomenon that has hammered businesses large and small in virtually every sector of the U.S. economy.
With no access to theaters, the film went almost immediately the on-demand route in an effort to drum up some of the revenue it planned to make at the box office. In an interview with Movieguide, Andrew Erwin calls it a "surreal experience," adding it seemed like something out of a film.
"It was definitely a head-scratcher for sure. I felt like I was starring in my own science fiction apocalyptic movie."
He also believes, however, that these trying times may actually have a silver lining for the faith-based movie business, because audiences seem to be "craving hope more than ever." Not only can that bode well for I Still Believe when it goes on sale May 5th in all formats, but it should help the other projects the Erwins have in the hopper.
Andrew says he and brother, Jon, will direct American Underdog, a biopic about Christian Hall-of-Fame quarterback Kurt Warner, and produce Jesus Revolution, a movie about a 1970s revival among young Americans, including now-pastor Greg Laurie, who came to faith in that movement. Erwin thinks those productions will both happen this year, provided "the world gets turned back on." And if that weren't enough, they've got a documentary about music icon Johnny Cash lined up too. Wow, it would seem the brother duo will be making up for all this lost time!
You should check out the entire interview with Movieguide, because Andrew had a lot more to say that is worth listening to. It runs just over 20 minutes and you can click this link to find it.