Angel Studios’ “The King of Kings” roared into theatres over the weekend with a projected $19 million domestic debut, setting a new record for a biblical animated film and earning one of cinema’s rarest honours: an A+ CinemaScore.
Opening on 3,200 screens, the film grossed an estimated $7 million on Friday, $6.8 million on Saturday, and $5.2 million on Sunday, according to Angel.
The weekend total of $19,050,397 makes “The King of Kings” the largest opening for a biblical animated feature in history, surpassing “The Prince of Egypt” ($14.5 million), "The Star” ($9.8 million) and “Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie” ($6.2 million), according to The Numbers.
“The Angel Guild picks winners. Angel’s revolutionary idea is simple: know your audience — and listen to them,” said Global Head of Theatrical Distribution & Brand Development at Angel, Brandon Purdie. “The CinemaScore for The King of Kings says it all. The film is one of only 128 films to achieve an A+ CinemaScore, and only the fifth animated film to hold that title that isn’t a Pixar/Disney production. Families want quality films to see together in theatres. This weekend simply reflects what audiences are craving.”
The film, which recounts the life of Jesus Christ through the eyes of a child and the storytelling lens of Charles Dickens, is loosely based on Dickens’ book The Life of Our Lord.
The film blends modern virtual cinematography with Victorian-era aesthetics and a star-studded voice cast: Kenneth Branagh, Uma Thurman, Pierce Brosnan, Mark Hamill, Forest Whitaker, Ben Kingsley, Oscar Isaac and Roman Griffin Davis. The film also features original music, with Kristin Chenoweth co-writing and performing the closing song, “Live Like That.”
In the movie, Dickens recounts the story of Jesus to his son, leading viewers into an imaginative retelling of the Gospel through a child’s perspective.
“What begins as a bedtime tale becomes a life-changing journey,” reads the film's synopsis. “Through vivid imagination, the boy walks alongside Jesus, witnessing His miracles, facing His trials, and understanding His ultimate sacrifice.”
South Korean filmmaker and director Seong-Ho Jang, a professing Christian, told The Christian Post the project was born out of both personal conviction and cultural concern.
“As a Christian myself, I was a little bit surprised that there aren’t any feature film animations that talk about Jesus’ story,” he told CP through a translator. “So there was big motivation for me.”
The director also shared his desire to reach a broader audience, including younger generations in his home country, where church attendance has declined. “There are a lot of Christians in Korea,” he said. “But sadly, not many young people are going to church. I thought, there’s a need for someone to deliver the message of Jesus in the right way.”
“This entire project began with my thinking that I wanted to extract just one word from the entire Bible,” Jang said. “I thought that was love. Jesus is love. I want [the audience] to feel that the reason for His sacrifice is His love for us.”
Cinematographer and producer Woo-hyung Kim told CP the team used advanced motion capture and virtual production to create a cinematic experience that feels more like a live-action epic than traditional animation.
“We hired the actors first, and then we captured the motions,” Kim explained. “And then once it completes, I go into the virtual world with my virtual camera and I do the camera movements there, again and again.”
