The Christian Film & Television Commission will hold its 19th annual Movieguide Awards Gala on Feb. 18, when the best family film of 2010 will be announced.
The nominees for the honor are "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader," "Despicable Me," "How To Train Your Dragon," "Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole," "Letters to God," "Megamind," "Shrek Forever After," "Tangled," Toy Story 3" and "What If"
Ted Baehr, chairman of the Christian Film & Television Commission, will announce the winner.
Baehr, who is also the founder and publisher of movieguide.org, grew up in a home without faith. But in 1975, his life took a turn.
"Somebody challenged me to read the Bible, and I became a Christian," he said.
Ten years later, Baehr founded the Christian Film & Television Commission and Movieguide in the midst of a challenging media atmosphere. At the time, fewer than 1 percent of movies had positive Christian content, and about 6 percent were aimed at families. About 80 percent of the top Hollywood movies were R-rated, he said.
According to Baehr, those numbers have improved in the past couple of decades. Fifty-five percent of movies now have positive Christian content, 40 percent are aimed at families and fewer than 40 percent of the top Hollywood movies are R-rated, Baehr said.
A chairman of a major studio told Baehr that he attributed some of those changes to the influence of Movieguide and the Christian Film & Television Commission.
Baehr has appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show, Fox News, Entertainment Tonight, CNN and ABC. He was also the president of the organization that produced C.S. Lewis' "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe" in 1980, which was broadcast on CBS9 and received an audience of more than 37 million and an Emmy Award.
e-mail: kmorrill@desnews.com