{"id":43831,"date":"2025-04-16T15:02:24","date_gmt":"2025-04-16T19:02:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?p=43831"},"modified":"2025-04-16T15:02:24","modified_gmt":"2025-04-16T19:02:24","slug":"angel-studios-king-of-kings-takes-the-crown-at-the-box-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2025\/04\/angel-studios-king-of-kings-takes-the-crown-at-the-box-office.html","title":{"rendered":"Angel Studios&#8217; &#8216;King of Kings&#8217; Takes the Crown at the Box Office"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_43834\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-43834\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2025\/04\/King-of-Kings_credit-Angel-Studios.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-43834\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2025\/04\/King-of-Kings_credit-Angel-Studios.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-43834\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Angel Studios<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Angel Studios\u2019 newest release, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">King of Kings, <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">is much more than a refreshed version of Jesus\u2019 life; it\u2019s a history-making movie.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">During its opening weekend, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">King of Kings<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> generated over $19 million at the box office. That achievement broke the record for the biggest-ever debut for an animated biblical film in 1998, when DreamWorks\u2019 <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Prince of Egypt <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">was released.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Another impressive note about the fantastic film is that the $19 million it earned during its opening was the best opening for a faith-based film in the post-pandemic era and the fourth-best all-time, behind <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Passion of the Christ<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (2004, $83.8 million), <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Son of God<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (2014, $25.6 million), and <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Heaven Is for Real<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (2014, $22.5 million).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe Angel Guild picks winners. Angel\u2019s revolutionary idea is simple: know your audience \u2014 and listen to them,\u201d said Global Head of Theatrical Distribution &amp; Brand Development at Angel, Brandon Purdie. \u201cThe 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\u2019t a Pixar\/Disney production. Families want quality films to see together in theaters. This weekend simply reflects what audiences are craving.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Animated films usually perform well in theaters as family-friendly offerings. Last year, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Inside Out 2 <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mufasa: The Lion King <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">did what Pixar and Disney typically do for their animated releases\u2014dominate the box office worldwide.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yet, animated biblical movies haven\u2019t experienced that kind of success. Even when the makers of <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Prince of Egypt <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">set out to create another story, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Joseph King of Dreams<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, it fared far less in comparison. Initially, it was slated for a theatrical release but ended up being released straight to DVD and forgotten about by many would-be fans.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Other films in this category have been other DVD (or VHS) releases, such as <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jonah: A Veggie-Tales Movie, Genesis: Paradise Lost, The Lion of Judah, <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">or <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Star <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(as in, of Bethlehem)<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The 2017 movie, starring Tyler Perry, was nominated for a GMA Dove Award for Inspirational Film of the Year and grossed $62 million on a $20 million budget.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Earning $15 million in pre-sales alone, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">King of Kings <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">peaked at No. 2 at the U.S. box office, another unfathomable achievement in this sub-genre.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Dickensian film features incomparable talents, such as Oscar Isaac as Jesus, Pierce Brosnan as Pontius Pilate, Kenneth Branagh as Charles Dickens, Uma Thurman as Catherine Dickens, Mark Hamill as King Herod, Ben Kingsley as High Priest Caiaphas, Forest Whitaker as Peter and Roman Griffin Davis as Walter Dickens, the wondering child.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Angel Studios\u2019 newest release, King of Kings, is much more than a refreshed version of Jesus\u2019 life; it\u2019s a history-making movie.\u00a0 During its opening weekend, King of Kings generated over $19 million at the box office. That achievement broke the record for the biggest-ever debut for an animated biblical film in 1998, when DreamWorks\u2019 The&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":516,"featured_media":43834,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-television"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Angel Studios&#039; &#039;King of Kings&#039; Takes the Crown at the Box Office<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"&quot;King of King&quot; makes history with a $19M debut\u2014breaking records for animated biblical films and marking a new era for faith-based cinema.\" \/>\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\/idolchatter\/2025\/04\/angel-studios-king-of-kings-takes-the-crown-at-the-box-office.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Angel Studios&#039; 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