About half of the cast and crew were volunteers from Sherwood Baptist Church, while the remainder were brought on through invitation-only auditions.

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.

Javier Martinez is an immigrant struggling to provide for his family after being laid off when a construction company went over budget.

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.

Mitchell discovers that Fuller has been stealing drugs from police evidence to resell on the streets for money.

During a minor traffic stop, Hayes and Thomson unknowingly confront the armed leader of a gang they have been repeatedly encountering.

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.

[5] 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.

The lead roles in the film are played by Alex Kendrick and Ken Bevel, both of whom have appeared in past Sherwood productions.

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 King of the Jungle reality show, made his film debut.

The Duggar daughters acted as extras in a funeral scene at Sherwood Baptist Church that involved several police officers in uniform.

[16] In December 2010, the Motion Picture Association of America rated the film PG-13 for "some violence and drug content".

The contemporary Christian band Casting Crowns released a song titled "Courageous" to promote the film with a video featuring scenes from it.

Tony Dungy, a Super Bowl-winning football coach, mentioned the film in an article he wrote about fatherhood for USA Today.

[18] It sold over $2 million in pre-sale tickets,[19] the most of the weekend on Fandango, beating out The Lion King 3D, Moneyball, Dolphin Tale, and Drive.

[16] According to Box Office Mojo, its opening weekend ranks fifth all-time among Christian movies, behind The Passion of the Christ and the three Chronicles of Narnia films.

The website's critical consensus reads, "While the filmmaking is fairly competent, Courageous is overall worthless to anybody who doesn't subscribe to its dogmatic agenda.

"[26] Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter said Courageous demonstrated the Kendrick brothers' "growing expertise as filmmakers with its skillful blending of moving drama, subtle comedy and several impressive action sequences, including a well-staged foot chase and a harrowing shootout between the cops and bad guys.

"[28] Adam R. Holz of Focus on the Family Plugged In Online said Courageous has "A compelling story line with plenty of action and just the right amount of humor.

[35] "Courageous Living" by Michael Catt, "Rite of Passage" by Jim McBride, and a film novelization by Randy Alcorn were also released.