With the success of The Chosen’s theatrical release, Mel Gibson’s long-awaited sequel to The Passion of the Christ, and the surprising success of Amazon Prime’s House of David, it seems faith-based films may be the way of the future for the entertainment industry. And now, another popular biblical figure will be getting the big screen treatment, with Unveil Studios hoping to release the film in 2026. The project be the first part of an intended of series of films and will cover the Babylonian invasion as described in the book of Daniel and ending with the infamous fiery furnace scene when three young Hebrew men must bow to the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar or be thrown into the fire.

It’s a production that is already earning praise for its faithfulness to the biblical story. It also raised a whopping $1.2 million through crowdfunding. Speaking with Christian Post, Daniel Kooman, who founded Unveil Studios with his brothers Matthew and Andrew, spoke about what makes Daniel special. “I don’t think you can make a Bible story without the Holy Spirit, at least not accurately,” he said. “We have a team where many of the people are Spirit-filled,” he said. “So you have that helper, that support system built in, where you’re getting direction and leaning on Scripture in a deeper way. The failure of a lot of these other Bible films that came out is that they weren’t done by believers, and they weren’t done with an honor to the text. Which is literally paramount,” he added, referring to films like the big-budget Noah, which flopped at the box office.

He attributed the success of the film’s crowdfunding to an audience that is “starved of faith-based entertainment. “We’ve been developing the Daniel movie for a couple of years because we’ve known for many years that biblical films are really what the faith audience is looking for,” he said. “Now that it’s actually becoming available, and people can be a part of it, that just really drove the crowdfund to amazing heights. People are like, ‘Yeah, this is exactly what we want.’”

Kooman noted how the story lends itself to cinematic treatment, with the Daniel and his friends being dragged into Babylon “which was hell,” only to be taken to the fiery furnace, which was “like going into hell inside of hell,” Kooman said. But the goal isn’t just cinematic excellence. It’s spiritual impact. “If it doesn’t make people want to pick up and authenticate it through the Bible, I think you’ve completely missed the mark. Our goal is that people will have a hunger for the Word and actually get into the book of Daniel and into the rest of the Bible. That would be an incredible win.”