The Story of Movieguide®: Faith, Family & Film

Published: November 21, 2023

While Movieguide® founder and publisher Dr. Ted Baehr grew up in the entertainment industry, it was not until later in life that he became a Christian. After meeting his wife, Lili, they decided that the intersection for faith and film needed an advocate.

“What can I do to change the industry, now that I was a Christian?” Dr. Ted Baehr said.

“We were thinking, ‘We’re watching all these horrible movies and who’s making the decision to spend $200 million on some garbage like that?’” Lili Baehr added in an interview before her death on May 5, 2022. “That’s how we started Movieguide®.”

In 1985, Dr. Ted Baehr and Lili founded Movieguide® with the hope of cultivating a better media landscape for their children and future generations.

Movieguide® began as a simple newsletter based in Atlanta, Georgia. However, the response was quick and substantial as families flocked to Movieguide® for their information TV, Movies, and other forms of media. Soon after, Movieguide® got a radio program, and from there, the ministry quickly expanded to TV and a bi-weekly magazine with detailed movies reviews of the latest blockbuster hits. Despite the many obstacles and challenges, God blessed Movieguide® with early success.

During the 1990s, Movieguide® relocated its headquarters to the greater Los Angeles area, beginning their hands-on impact in Hollywood. The proximity to Hollywood studios, talent, and executives helped Movieguide® in its mission to become a beacon for the Good, the True, and the Beautiful and an advocate for uplifting, moral entertainment.

Through research and extensive data, Movieguide® started to celebrate movies that upheld biblical morals, and honored them at the annual Movieguide® Awards Gala. The MGA’s became an annual event, and helped initiate tangible change in Hollywood as more and more industry executives worked to adhere to Movieguide®’s criteria.

Today, Movieguide® continues to pave the way for faith, family-friendly and moral content with TV programs and radio shows that are broadcasted to over 200 countries around the world. Movieguide® also adapted to the digital age, posting all of their in-depth movie reviews, parenting resources, and faith content on their website, Movieguide.org.

Movieguide®’s mission, from the very beginning, is to champion the good—amidst an entertainment industry that often stoops to praising the immoral. Through the Report to the Entertainment Industry, Movieguide® continues to be a beacon of truth for studios and storytellers and shows that morally uplifting movies consistently win at the Box Office.

Movieguide®’s ministry is made possible by God’s grace and by faithful supporters who see the importance of redeeming media, to encourage future generations with better, more faith-filled, and morally uplifting entertainment.

“We are trying to help people create movies that will nourish their children, and we see a lot of people in the industry who’ve changed, who’ve come to Christ,” Dr. Ted Baehr said.

“Everything we’ve done was for a purpose in the sense that we saw the need,” Lili added. “We’re able to prove that good movies are what people want. And God sent us here to do that, to do something that had never been done before.”