{"id":499,"date":"2019-01-18T12:21:32","date_gmt":"2019-01-18T17:21:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/?p=499"},"modified":"2019-01-18T12:21:32","modified_gmt":"2019-01-18T17:21:32","slug":"show-life-jesus-now-largest-crowdfunded-series-history-raising-10-million","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2019\/01\/show-life-jesus-now-largest-crowdfunded-series-history-raising-10-million.html","title":{"rendered":"A Show About the Life of Jesus is Now the Largest Crowdfunded Series in History Raising More Than $10 Million"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-500\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/409\/2019\/01\/faith-christian-jesus-walking-sand_credit-lightstock-e1547831266697.jpg\" alt=\"faith-christian-jesus-walking-sand_credit-lightstock\" width=\"700\" height=\"525\" \/>Christians around the world have spoken! A series about the life of Jesus just became the number one crowdfunded series in entertainment history.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Chosen,\u201d the first multi-season series of its kind about the life of Jesus has beat out \u201cMystery Science Theater 3000,\u201d which raised $5.7 million, previously holding the record as the number one crowdfunded film or TV project in history.<\/p>\n<p>The series, directed by Dallas Jenkins is set to be released this Easter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen we started this whole thing I\u2019d be impressed if we brought in $800,\u201d Jenkins told Fox News. \u201cThe notion that we could start from scratch and shatter the all-time crowdfunding record was ludicrous, but this whole year has gone to show that there\u2019s a passion for something different.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At the end of 2017, The Chosen Productions partnered with distributor VidAngel and released a pilot on social media to see if there was a real desire for this content. The pilot alone was seen by 15 million people, asking if they wanted to fund a show like this and investors said they did.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe vast audience for high quality, faith-based entertainment \u2013 all too often overlooked and underserved by Hollywood \u2013 made a loud and unmistakable statement that they\u2019re so eager for content that resonates, they are willing to fund it into existence\u2026,\u201d Matthew Faraci, Executive Producer of The Chosen, told Fox News. \u201cBacked by our army of 15,000 passionate investors, we\u2019re excited to see how far we can take this series.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It is clear that people are hungry for Christian entertainment content now more than ever. We can look at projects like The Passion of the Christ, directed by Mel Gibson, which is still the highest-grossing independent film of all time. The Bible series, produced by Mark Burnett and Roma Downey is the highest-rated cable broadcast of 2013.<\/p>\n<p>The pilot episode can be watched below.<\/p>\n<p><iframe width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/lVt14Ug-GOs\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Christians around the world have spoken! A series about the life of Jesus just became the number one crowdfunded series in entertainment history. \u201cThe Chosen,\u201d the first multi-season series of its kind about the life of Jesus has beat out \u201cMystery Science Theater 3000,\u201d which raised $5.7 million, previously holding the record as the number&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":565,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[10,305,304,303],"class_list":["post-499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian-news","tag-christian-news","tag-christian-news-records","tag-crowdfunded-series","tag-the-chosen"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A Show About the Life of Jesus is Now the Largest Crowdfunded Series in History Raising More Than $10 Million<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2019\/01\/show-life-jesus-now-largest-crowdfunded-series-history-raising-10-million.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Show About the Life of Jesus is Now the Largest Crowdfunded Series in History Raising More Than $10 Million\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Christians around the world have spoken! A series about the life of Jesus just became the number one crowdfunded series in entertainment history. \u201cThe Chosen,\u201d the first multi-season series of its kind about the life of Jesus has beat out \u201cMystery Science Theater 3000,\u201d which raised $5.7 million, previously holding the record as the number&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2019\/01\/show-life-jesus-now-largest-crowdfunded-series-history-raising-10-million.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Christ News Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-01-18T17:21:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lesli White\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/files\/2019\/01\/faith-christian-jesus-walking-sand_credit-lightstock-e1547831266697.jpg\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Show About the Life of Jesus is Now the Largest Crowdfunded Series in History Raising More Than $10 Million","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2019\/01\/show-life-jesus-now-largest-crowdfunded-series-history-raising-10-million.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Show About the Life of Jesus is Now the Largest Crowdfunded Series in History Raising More Than $10 Million","og_description":"Christians around the world have spoken! A series about the life of Jesus just became the number one crowdfunded series in entertainment history. \u201cThe Chosen,\u201d the first multi-season series of its kind about the life of Jesus has beat out \u201cMystery Science Theater 3000,\u201d which raised $5.7 million, previously holding the record as the number&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2019\/01\/show-life-jesus-now-largest-crowdfunded-series-history-raising-10-million.html","og_site_name":"Christ News Today","article_published_time":"2019-01-18T17:21:32+00:00","author":"Lesli 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