An animated feature film retelling the Christian Gospel narrative for children opened big this past weekend, earning $19.3 million at the U.S. box office and placing second.
The King of Kings, a passion project of South Korean writer-director Seong-ho “Jay” Jang — in production for over five years and distributed by Angel Studios — had the biggest opening ever for an animated biblical film.
Its strong debut, opening on 3,200 screens worldwide, bested first-weekend domestic earnings of DreamWorks’ The Prince of Egypt (1998) and two lighter takes on Scripture, Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie (2002) and Sony Pictures’ The Star (2017).
“We’re thrilled to see The King of Kings connect so deeply with audiences,” Brandon Purdie, Global Head of Theatrical Distribution & Brand Development at Angel Studios, told media. “Families want quality films to see together in theaters. This weekend simply reflects what audiences are craving.”
The film, which shares the story of an imaginative boy who discovers faith through his father’s story of Jesus, received a Rotten Tomatoes audience score of 97% and a coveted A+ CinemaScore.
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The King of Kings features an all-star voice cast, including Oscar winner Kenneth Branagh as Charles Dickens, who recounts the Gospel narrative to his son, Walter, and Uma Thurman as his wife, Catherine Dickens.
Their son imagines he is entering the biblical story and interacts with such characters as Oscar Isaac as Jesus Christ, Forest Whitaker as Peter, Mark Hamill as King Herod, Pierce Brosnan as Pontius Pilate, and Ben Kingsley as High Priest Caiaphas.
In a recent interview, director Seong-ho Jang spoke of the film’s most challenging sequence. “Near the end, there’s a scene where Walter accepts Jesus’ sacrifice and understands what it is,” said Jang. “Personally, it was very meaningful to produce.”
As of press time, The King of Kings has a “fresh” rating, with 63% of critics praising it.
“This engaging faith-based film’s unique framing device makes the story of Jesus’ life feel fresh for younger, adventure-loving children,” wrote Sandie Chen of Common Sense Media.
Writing in Christianity Today, movie critic Peter Chattaway said, “The film is impressive, and creatively so.” But, he also noted, “Its depiction of the Pharisees as one-dimensional villains plays into old stereotypes, however unintentionally.”
Notably, another adaptation of the Christian Gospels is also currently playing in theaters. Over eight episodes that comprise season five of the hit Gospel-inspired TV series, The Chosen: Last Supper recounts the events of Holy Week.
The episodes have rolled out in three parts to accommodate a theatrical release, collectively earning over $36 million to date at the U.S. box office.
“Jesus is having quite a weekend at the box office,” said Dallas Jenkins, creator of The Chosen, on Facebook. “Congrats to the film ‘King of Kings’ for a huge debut, and it’ll well surpass our Jesus project (the more the merrier); the movie looks great.”
Both The King of Kings and The Chosen: Last Supper are expected to continue to perform well in theaters over the coming Easter weekend.
Josh Shepherd contributed to this article, which was originally published by CHVN Radio.
Journalist Colleen Houde is a news writer and on-air host at CHVN in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
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One Response
The look is not the sort of thing that appeals to me, but if other people like it, that’s great.