Angel Studios released its animated Biblical film King of Kings into 3,200 theaters and not only came in second but broke a box office record.
King of Kings overperformed media estimates to hit $19.05 million in its debut weekend, which trounced all the new competition. Currently, King of Kings can lay claim to the best opening of a Biblical animated film ever.
Among the weekend’s other new releases…
Oscar winner Rami Malek’s remake of The Amateur came in third with $15 million. Warfare debuted to $8.3 million. The latest Blumhouse horror feature, Drop, grabbed just $7.5 million. Only the second weekend of the legitimate box office sensation Minecraft beat King Of Kings, coming in at $25.7 million in weekend two. Minecraft has so far grossed $281 million domestic and $551 million globally.
King of Kings wasn’t the only feature drawing the faithful this weekend. Over the past weeks, creator Dallas Jenkins has released the latest installments of his widely popular Chosen TV series into theaters through Fathom Events. The Chosen: Last Supper Parts 1, 2, and 3 have so far grossed nearly $40 million domestic, which is amazing for television content that will soon stream for free. But The Chosen really is a great show, so I fully understand why people would be eager to see it as soon as possible and support it at the box office.
Next weekend is Easter, which is very good news for Chosen and King of Kings. This is also a second out-of-nowhere hit for Angel Studios. Prior to King of Kings there was 2023‘s Sound of Freedom, which out-grossed that year’s Indiana Jones and Mission: Impossible entries, among others.
Even better news for King of Kings is that Sound of Freedom also opened to $19 million and then went on to gross $184 million domestic and $251 million globally.
The faith-based world has worked hard over the last two decades to improve its craft, which is starting to pay off at the box office and in the streaming world. The Chosen is one of the most popular television shows in history… not because it’s Christian, but because it’s Christian and very well made: engrossing, well-acted, written, and directed. Although Dallas Jenkins must fill in some story blanks in the Gospels (like Cecil B. DeMille did with the book of Exodus in his 1956 classic The Ten Commandments), what he and his writers add is always faithful in spirit to the source material without losing its story drive and dramatic impact. The Chosen is a remarkable accomplishment. I’d love to see Jenkins tackle Acts of the Apostles next.
Snow White collapsed to eighth place after an anemic fourth-weekend gross of just $2.89 million; it sits at $82 million domestic and $182 million global.
John Nolte’s first and last novel, Borrowed Time, is winning five-star raves from everyday readers. You can read an excerpt here and an in-depth review here. Also available in hardcover and on Kindle and Audiobook.
