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Lionsgate has picked up the family drama film “Unsung Hero” from the Christian music duo for King + Country. Helmed by Richard Ramsey and for King + Country’s Joel Smallbone, the film tells the story of Smallbone family’s trek from Australia to America, and Joel and his brother Luke’s path to becoming Grammy-winning artists.

Joel Smallbone stars as his father David in the film, with Daisy Betts playing Joel’s mother Helen. According to the official synopsis, “With nothing more than their seven children, suitcases, and their love of music, David and his pregnant wife Helen set out to rebuild their lives. Based on a remarkable true story, Helen’s faith stands against all odds and inspires her husband and children to hold onto theirs. With their own dreams on hold, David and Helen begin to realize the musical prowess in their children.”

The film also stars Kirrilee Berger,...

Lionsgate has picked up Kingdom Story Company’s Unsung Hero, the directorial debut of Joel Smallbone, one half of the Christian music duo For King + Country.

The drama centers on the Smallbone family, which also includes For King + Country member Luke Smallbone and singer-songwriter Rebecca St. James, as they come to America from their native Australia after the collapse of their father’s successful music company.

The movie also follows the family’s mother, Helen Smallbone (Daisy Betts) as she uses her faith to hold the family of nine together by turning struggles into an adventure for her children. The title for the film comes from a For King + Country song of the same name that was dedicated to the parents of Joel and Luke Smallbone.

Joel Smallbone stars as his father, David Smallbone, with other cast including Kirrilee Berger, Jonathan Jackson, Lucas Black, Candace Cameron Bure, Terry O’Quinn and Hillary Scott.

It is not often these days that you get a Hollywood studio release born out of the late-’60s and ’70s hippie movement, but in blending a true-life faith-based story with the uninhibited counterculture of the time, you have Jesus Revolution. It’s the latest spiritual exercise from the Erwin Brothers’ Kingdom Story Company virtual factory of inspirational faith-based films that really took hold with their 2018 smash hit I Can Only Imagine and more recently included the Kurt Warner football story American Underdog.

Unlike many films in the genre, which find their greatest box office success in the South and Midwest, the Erwins don’t dwell on pounding the message into their movies (thank God for that), but there is no question that belief in God when you might be at the lowest point of your life, questioning everything, is a key component, and clearly they look to real life for their inspiration.

Tom Cruise turned up to start his campaign for Oscar gold for “Top Gun: Maverick,” while Academy Award acting frontrunners stepped up their pace by attending events from L.A. to Santa Barbara and beyond in this week’s look at the most interesting parties and premieres — and fashion shows, too.

Annual Oscar Nominees Luncheon

The Beverly Hilton Hotel, Beverly Hills

Austin Butler and Tom Cruise meet up at the Oscar Nominees Luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. (Getty Images)

It felt like old times at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, as the Annual Oscar Nominees Luncheon returned to the same room where it took place for decades after its beginnings in the 1980s. There were actors sitting next to sound mixers and directors with production designers, a record 182 nominees taking their seats in tables across three levels of the hotel’s ballroom and a “class photo” memorializing the event.

The...

Exclusive: Kelsey Grammer, Anna Grace Barlow, and Jonathan Roumie have joined the cast of Jesus Revolution, the Kingdom Story Company and Lionsgate film inspired by the true story of a national spiritual awakening in the early 1970s and its origins within a community of teenage hippies in Southern California. Grammer will star alongside Joel Courtney as well as Barlow and Roumie, and Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Ally Ioannides, Julia Campbell, Nic Bishop, and Jolie Jenkins.

In the 1970s, young Greg Laurie (Joel Courtney) sets out to redefine truth through all means of liberation, and instead, meets Lonnie Frisbee (Jonathan Roumie), a charismatic hippie street preacher. Laurie and Frisbee, along with Pastor Chuck Smith (Kelsey Grammer), open the doors of Smith’s languishing church to an unexpected revival by way of rock and roll, newfound love, and a twist of faith leading to a Jesus Revolution that changed the world. Laurie went on to start Harvest Christian Fellowship,...