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Courageous is a 2011 American independent Christian drama film directed by Alex Kendrick and written by Kendrick with his brother Stephen Kendrick. It is the fourth film by Sherwood Pictures, the creators of Flywheel, Facing the Giants, and Fireproof. Filming in Albany, Georgia concluded in June 2010. The film was marketed by Sony's Provident Films, which also marketed their previous films. Alex Kendrick stars in the film, along with Ken Bevel and Kevin Downes. About half of the cast and crew were volunteers from Sherwood Baptist Church, while the remainder were brought on through invitation-only auditions. Courageous was released in the United States by Sony Pictures Releasing on September 30, 2011. The film was produced with a budget of $2 million, but on its opening weekend, it grossed $2 million in pre-sales alone and grossed $9.1 million total for the weekend. It grossed a total of $35.7 million, over 17 times its budget. The film opened to generally negative reviews from secular critics but generally positive reviews from Christian critics. An extended, remastered cut of the film titled Courageous Legacy was released on September 24, 2021 with Tristar Pictures not involved and Kendrick Brothers Productions co-producing, marking this the fourth film produced by their company, and the fifth and final film produced by Sherwood Pictures. It features a new ending set ten years after the original movie, 15 minutes of new scenes, new special effects, and is upscaled to 4K resolution. Plot When his truck is stolen at a gas station, Nathan Hayes chases it and manages to reclaim the truck but the criminal gets away. Though he is injured, he crawls back to his truck, and sees that his little baby boy in the back is okay. When the police arrive, sheriff's deputies Adam Mitchell and Shane Fuller meet Hayes, discovering he is a new deputy, having recently moved to Albany, Georgia. The personal lives of these officers are observed: Mitchell adores his nine-year-old daughter, Emily, but is distant from his fifteen-year-old son, Dylan, because he doesn't share his son's interest in 5k runs. Hayes never knew his biological father, instead treating a neighbor as his father (even giving him Father's Day cards annually), but would risk his life to save his three children; however, his teenage daughter Jade, resents him because he has a strict policy about dating, and won't let her go out with her love interest Derrick. Fuller is divorced, as were his parents, and has joint custody of his son. David Thomson is young and single. Javier Martinez is an immigrant struggling to provide for his family after being laid off when a construction company went over budget. While job-hunting he walks down an alley asking God what He wants him to do. Mitchell, thinking he is a different Javier recommended to him by a friend, calls him over to help with backyard projects and construction. After paying him for the job, Mitchell recommends him to a new full-time job, where he is hired. One day, Emily is killed by a drunk driver, devastating Mitchell and his family. Following his daughter's death, Mitchell reads about fatherhood in the Bible. He decides he must be a better father and crafts a detailed "Resolution" to honor God in every aspect of his family. Mitchell, Hayes, Fuller, Thomson, and Martinez join him in his resolution at a formal ceremony conducted by Hayes's neighborhood mentor, the man he thinks of as a father. As a result of the resolution, Mitchell and Fuller mend their relationships with their sons, Hayes with his daughter, and he also visits the grave of his biological father whom he had never met and forgives him. Thomson reveals that he fathered a child in college and deserted the mother after she refused to have an abortion. He writes the mother and seeks to mend their relationship and to see his child, after seeing that abandoning kids contributes to crime on the streets, and does not want that burden on her. Martinez's manager offers him a promotion on the condition that he falsify inventory documents. After being given a day to think about it, Martinez refuses, maintaining that it would be wrong. Impressed, his boss promotes him and raises his pay, revealing that the condition had been a test of Javier's integrity, with Javier being the only individual to pass after many others had been tested. Mitchell discovers that Fuller has been stealing drugs from police evidence to resell on the streets for money. Mitchell decides he must honor his Resolution and report the corruption. He sets up a sting leading to Fuller's arrest and imprisonment. Fuller explains his motives that he was doing it for his son, feeling that his yearly pay wasn't enough to provide for him. Mitchell visits Fuller in jail where Fuller admits to his mistakes and asks Mitchell to look after his son. During a minor traffic stop, Hayes and Thomson unknowingly confront the armed leader of a gang they have been repeatedly encountering. One of the gang members is Derrick, who stops the gang leader from shooting Hayes with a shotgun. After an intense firefight, Deputy Hayes asks Derrick what he's doing with the gang, and the latter responds that he had no one else that cared about him. At a Father's Day church service, the men present the Resolution and Mitchell urges the fathers in the congregation to be a godly influence on their families. Mitchell runs in a 5K race with both his and Fuller's sons, Hayes begins to teach and mentor Derrick in prison, and Thomson meets his daughter for the first time. Cast Production Announcement The title and plot of Courageous were announced on November 15, 2009 by Alex Kendrick, Michael Catt, Jim McBride and Stephen Kendrick. Sherwood Pictures stated that "After much prayer, creative brainstorming, more prayer, wise counsel, and still more prayer, Sherwood Pictures is ready to move ahead with their fourth motion picture." Before the announcement, the filmmakers launched TheNextSherwoodMovie.com, which contained teasers for Courageous. At the time of the announcement, the Kendrick brothers stated that they had completed "about 80 percent of the plot", and they had planned to finish the script by the end of 2009. Casting In preceding Sherwood Pictures films, almost all of the cast and crew were composed of members of Sherwood Baptist Church, with Kirk Cameron being the notable exception with his lead role in Fireproof. For Courageous the producers expanded their search for acting talent. Roughly half of the cast are volunteers from the church, but the other half were through invitation-only audition sessions. The lead roles in the film are played by Alex Kendrick and Ken Bevel, both of whom have appeared in past Sherwood productions. Kevin Downes, who has appeared in various other films, played the role of Shane Fuller. Ben Davies, a student athlete at Samford University, played the role of David Thomson. Tony Stallings, former running back and winner of Animal Planet's .... Discover the Michael Catt Alex Kendrick popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Michael Catt Alex Kendrick books.