Call it the comeback of “Killian & the Comeback Kids.”

Blame or credit COVID-19.

As with many events and projects, whether concerts, theater shows and motion pictures, the 18-month coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic shutdown blasted a hole in the best-laid plans of those in the arts and entertainment business.

However, COVID provided a second theatrical release opportunity for “Killian & the Comeback Kids,” a feature movie based and filmed in the Lehigh Valley.

“When it came out last year in September, everyone thought that the cities were about to reopen. It ran until the Regal chain shut down. By November [2020], there was a second wave of movie theater shutdowns,” says Taylor A. Purdee, screenwriter and director of “Killian & the Comeback Kids,” in which he plays the title role as a singer-songwriter guitar player.

Purdee, who grew up in Williams Township, Northampton County, is a graduate of the Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts.

“Killian & the Comeback Kids,” originally released Sept. 18, 2020, was one of the first new releases, one of the only independent films, and in some cities, the only film playing exclusively in theaters during the pandemic.

To take advantage of the reopening of movie theaters, Hope Runs High, the film’s distributor, released “Comeback Kids” Sept. 17, 2021, in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and the Lehigh Valley, the latter at AMC Center Valley 16 at The Promenade at Saucon Valley.

“It’s staying in some theaters. But we are adding some in the south, in the Carolinas,” says Purdee in a phone interview.

Purdee appeared at the film’s September openings in New York and Los Angeles for question and answer sessions and to sing and play songs from the film. Purdee did a question and answer session Sept. 22 for students at the Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts, Bethlehem.

The film is expected to continue in movie theaters through early November and virtual cinemas, theater-at-home platforms, and video on demand in late November.

In “Killian & the Comeback Kids,” Purdee plays Killian Raison, a college graduate who returns to his hometown after a concert tour was canceled. He puts together a band with his friends to perform at the annual music festival. The film was lensed at Easton, Bethlehem and Lehigh Valley locales.

“Killian & the Comeback Kids” has a favorable rating of 7.7 of 10 on the Internet Movie Database. States a review by The Chicago Sun-Times: “It’s a cool film with beautiful music and cinematography.”

The film includes Nathan Purdee (Mr. Raison), Kassie Wesley DePaiva (Mrs. Raison), John Donchak (Sam Amico), Shannon O’Boyle (Rose), Emily Mest (Melanie), Andrew O’Shanick (Josh) and Liam Higgins (Ben). Lee Grant does the voice of Ms. Hunter.

The soundtrack has original songs by The Cumberland Kids.

Purdee is the son of actor Nathan Purdee and documentary film-maker Roberta Morris Purdee.

After Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts, Taylor Purdee attended Fordham University.

When the COVID-19 surge closed down movie theaters in December 2020, the film’s distributor, Hope Runs High, had to decide whether to release it digitally.

“At that point, we had to decide if it was going to go online,” says Purdee, a producer of the film.

“It could really benefit from the platform of the cities that those culture centers have. The distributor that was behind us kind of froze everything that was in theaters.

“We all looked at all the stats, knowing that the vaccine was rolling out, and we figured that people would be ready to go back to movie theaters. So, we were looking at September [2021].

“The deals with AMC and Regal, those were in place before COVID. What COVID did was a segmented two-year release.

“This distributor [Hope Runs High] does a lot of documentaries. There was a learning curve. In spreading out what is allowed to be a first-run film, it gives it way more breathing room.

“It was eligible for the Oscars last year, but we didn’t get nominated. It is going to be eligible for the Golden Globes and the Grammys.”

The plot in “Killian & the Comeback Kids” has to do with Killian and the goal that he and his group, The Comeback Kids, have to play Fest, a big annual music festival in Bethlehem. It’s a nod to Musikfest, which in the film figures in the renaissance of the old steel mill town.

“I would love to make the film a Musikfest tradition,” Purdee says. “I would love to get some of the band together to play Musikfest.”

The Cumberland Kids is Taylor, guitar-vocals; Liam Higgins, bass, mandolin, and Carly Jordan, vocals.

The “Killian & the Comeback Kids” soundtrack is available on digital platforms, with two additional releases (instrumental score and deluxe soundtrack with bonus tracks) expected to be released following the film’s digital launch.

“Liam [Higgins] and I started recording together when I started to write the script for ‘Killian,’” says Purdee.

“When the film went into production, that took a lot of the music and band energy.

“He’s [Higgins] got an idea for a large concept album to take the first forty-some songs that we wrote and arrange with them with our knowledge now. It’s going to be called ‘Every Song Counts.’ It will include some of the songs from the film, plus new songs.”

Higgins was a neighbor of Purdee in Williams Township.

“The only music we agreed on was ‘Weird Al’ [Yankovic]. And then we both agreed on Josh Ritter. The Cumberland Kids references one of Ritter’s songs. It was either going to be a soccer team or a band,” says Purdee.