Sony Pictures’ AFFIRM Films released the official trailer for FLYWHEEL: IGNITION OF THE SOUL on Aug. 26.
It gives audiences their first look at the Kendrick Brothers’ reimagined take on the movie that launched their filmmaking ministry more than two decades ago, ahead of an Oct. 16 U.S. theatrical release.
“We’re incredibly thankful for our English voice talent and the care they brought to these performances,” said executive producer and writer Alex Kendrick. “They honored the heart of the original Brazilian cast while bringing their own authenticity and emotional depth to each role.”
FLYWHEEL: IGNITION OF THE SOUL reimagines the Kendrick Brothers’ first feature as an authentic Brazilian production, filmed entirely in Portuguese on location in Rio de Janeiro with a local cast and crew. AFFIRM Films dubbed the movie into English for its stateside run, a choice meant to open the story up to North American audiences without sanding down the Brazilian performances underneath it.
Alongside the trailer, AFFIRM Films announced the English-language voice cast: Brett Varvel (DISCIPLES IN THE MOONLIGHT), Masey McLain (THE BAXTERS), Todd Terry (VINDICATION) and Lara Silva (THE CHOSEN). Each actor lends their voice to a Brazilian performance already on film, rather than reshooting scenes from scratch.
Related: First Look at Kendrick Brothers’ New Movie FLYWHEEL: IGNITION OF THE SOUL
At the center of the story is Noah Silva, a successful used-car salesman whose relentless chase after success slowly costs him the people who matter most. As his carefully built life comes apart, Noah has to sit with an uncomfortable question: what is integrity actually worth when it’s inconvenient?
It’s the same question that made the original FLYWHEEL a sleeper hit back in 2003, when brothers Alex and Stephen Kendrick made it through their church’s Sherwood Pictures on a shoestring budget. Movieguide® has followed the brothers’ career ever since, and their films have earned the Movieguide® Epiphany Prize three times — for FIREPROOF in 2009, COURAGEOUS in 2012 and OVERCOMER in 2020.
This new version grew out of an unplanned connection. Following THE FORGE’s success in Brazilian theaters in 2024, the Kendrick Brothers linked up with local churches, pastors and filmmakers who wanted to tell their own culturally rooted version of a faith story. Alex Kendrick called revisiting his and Stephen’s very first script “the first story God gave us as filmmakers,” and said seeing it reimagined by Brazilian filmmakers “has been incredibly special.”
Alessandro Barros directs from a screenplay by Alex Kendrick. The movie stars Mario Bregieira, Pérola Faria, Guilherme Tavares, Felipe Folgosi, Adriano Canindé and Elizeu Rodrigues, alongside Alex Kendrick himself. Mark Miller, Daniel Friesen and Wiltonauar Moura produced, with Stephen Kendrick, Alex Kendrick, Jim McBride and Ygor Siqueria serving as executive producers.
FLYWHEEL: IGNITION OF THE SOUL opens exclusively in U.S. theaters Oct. 16 before rolling out across Brazil and Latin America in November. Ahead of the release, publisher David C. Cook will put out an eight-week interactive Bible study based on the movie on Oct. 6, written by Alex and Stephen Kendrick and available in both English and Spanish — a companion resource that fits the brothers’ pattern of building small-group material meant to outlast a movie’s opening weekend.
For Christian families who’ve made a tradition of showing up for Kendrick Brothers releases, FLYWHEEL: IGNITION OF THE SOUL offers something a little different this time: a chance to watch a familiar lesson about integrity and grace land through completely unfamiliar faces, in a different language, in a country where the brothers’ brand of faith-based filmmaking is only just getting started.
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