C.S. Lewis Biopic Now Available On-Demand

With over $3MM in ticket sales, The Most Reluctant Convert: THE UNTOLD STORY of C.S. Lewis, wrapped its successful theatrical film run on December 2, after four 'by popular demand' extensions, a full month past the initial November 3 one night only release.

Following the strong theatrical success, Fellowship for Performing Arts has announced the PVOD launch, making the film now available via remote or traditional viewing, as of Thursday, December 9, exclusively here.

With a surprise opening night box office of over $1.2MM ($2,846 per screen average) in a limited release of 430 screens, the film was quickly poised to surpass $3MM in ticket sales, a rare accomplishment for an event cinema release.

Strong pre-sales in mid-September prompted hundreds of theatres to add The Most Reluctant Convert to their film line-up and soon after, new November dates were added. Before the film opened, it was given a full week extension from Nov 12-18 with multiple daily showings, and a subsequent extension through November 25 and finally through December 2.

"The film was announced with little fanfare. Expectations were minimal," says Max McLean, actor, founder/artistic director, FPA. "That changed as soon as the movie trailer went live and tickets went on sale. I was thrilled by how quickly the movie theaters responded and that they continued to show the movie for a full month! Now that the film has completed its theatrical release, we know that demand is still strong, so we made the decision to offer premium video on demand for viewing exclusively here, in time for the Christmas holidays."

Due to the great success of the theatrical launch, FPA is now planning additional platforms for The Most Reluctant Convert: THE UNTOLD STORY of C.S. Lewis as well as upcoming announcements for future film projects.

Presented by Fellowship for Performing Arts, The Most Reluctant Convert: THE UNTOLD STORY of C.S. Lewis is a new film tracing the spiritual journey of renowned author of The Chronicles of Narnia. The new biopic, directed by double-Emmy and double-BAFTA Award-winning filmmaker Norman Stone (BBC's Shadowlands, The Narnia Code), stars Max McLean and Nicholas Ralph.

Acclaimed theatre actor McLean is featured as middle-aged Lewis looking back on the events that began his journey from vigorous debunker of Christianity to becoming the most influential Christian writer of the past century. Nicholas Ralph, star of the PBS Masterpiece hit All Creatures Great and Small, plays Lewis as a young man who has a terrible relationship with his father and goes off to the trenches in the Great War, before becoming a fellow at Oxford University. The film introduces Eddie Ray Martin as the childhood Lewis, who loses his mother to cancer and then renounces his faith.

The Most Reluctant Convert is a ringside seat to the story of one of the 20th century's great thinkers, as he battles with himself and ultimately finds faith. The film explores the impact friends had on the dedicated atheist who was forced to question his own disbelief such as: J.R.R. Tolkien (played by Tom Glenister, Doc Martin, Vera), Hugo Dyson (played by David Shields, The Crown, Doctor Who) and Owen Barfield (played by Hubert Barton, Jekyll & Hyde, Deep Blue Sea).

The drama was filmed in 18 locations in and around Oxford, England, with an impressive roster of filmmaking talent that includes cinematographer Sam Heasman (Doctor Who, Next of Kin, Britannia, Vera), composer Craig Armstrong (Moulin Rouge, The Great Gatsby, Snowdon, Bridget Jones' Baby) and production designer Roger Murray-Leach (Local Hero, A Fish Called Wanda, Fierce Creatures).

The 17-member cast also includes: Eddie Ray Martin (Boy Lewis) David Gant (W.T. Kilpatrick), Richard Harrington (Albert Lewis), Amy Alexander (Flora Lewis) and Michael Ward (The Vicar). The production includes 190 extras and 270 costumes designed by Poli Kyriacou (Downton Abbey - Asst. Costume Designer). Makeup was designed by Nicole Stafford (The Death of Stalin). The executive producers are Matthew Jenkins (Death on the Nile) and Ken Denison (The Lion KING - Broadway).

The film is based on the hit U.S. play C.S. Lewis on Stage: The Most Reluctant Convert. Adapted by and starring Max McLean (Mark's Gospel - Jeff Award, The Screwtape Letters). Before the pandemic, it had been performed 287 times in 64 cities and on college campuses since its 2016 premiere. With extended runs in New York, Chicago and Washington, D.C. The Most Reluctant Convert has been seen by more than 100,000 people. The play and the film are based primarily on Lewis' memoir, Surprised by Joy, which is licensed from The C.S. Lewis Company.

At age 19, Lewis witnessed firsthand the waste of life in the trenches of France during World War I, concluding that "either there was no god behind the universe, a god who is indifferent to good and evil, or worse, an evil god." Yet, Lewis could not accept the materialist view that meaning, rationality, or purpose, were just the accidental results of physics and biochemistry. As a 16-year-old, he had picked up a copy of George MacDonald's Phantastes, which he said, "baptized my imagination." MacDonald, along with G.K. Chesterton and the influence of his robust group of young scholars such as Tolkien, Barfield and Dyson, moved him further up the theistic path until he finally "admitted that God was God, knelt and prayed, perhaps the most dejected, reluctant convert in all England."

To post a comment, you must register and login.