The brothers talk about the importance of following God's call and the power of unity among Christian movie audiences.
Andrew Erwin and Jon Erwin are among the very top filmmakers in the Christian genre, with movies like October Baby, Woodlawn and the 2018 hit I Can Only Imagine to their credit. And they recently wrapped production for their next picture, I Still Believe, which will be out next spring. That will be the first picture from their new Kingdom Studios, part of an agreement with Lionsgate that will have them making two Christian films every year.
The brothers have come a very long way from when they first got into media production, working on college football games in their home state of Alabama. Jon cites perseverance as a big part of the reason for the massive success they enjoyed with I Can Only Imagine, their fourth feature film, saying in an interview with pureflix.com's Pure Talk, that they "stayed in the game and kept learning," including from failures.
It's a journey that should inspire others who feel led to the competitive world of filmmaking, and Jon Erwin gives the glory to the Almighty for all they've accomplished.
"I think the moral to the story is just if God's calling you to something and you believe in it, never give up."
The faith-based genre is riding high right now among secular studios in Hollywood thanks in part to the $83 million box office performance of I Can Only Imagine. Andrew Erwin points out that "when it makes money, they sit up and listen." And he underlines that studio executives take notice when Believers show up en masse at theaters to support Christian fare.
"I think they're realizing how powerful the audience is when it unifies."
There's a good chance faith-based moviegoers will give another demonstration of that power later this month when Overcomer hits screens nationwide; that's the next picture from the Kendrick Brothers, the leading filmmakers in the genre. Back to the Erwins, their film I Still Believe, a biopic about Christian singer Jeremy Camp, is expected out next March. In the meantime, we recommend you take in their entire interview with Pure Talk via this link.