‘The King Of Kings’ Succeeds At Box Office As Conservative Influencers Boost Film

Topline

Christian movies are dominating the box office this week, led by the animated hit “The King of Kings,” which is backed by the studio behind the controversial 2023 smash “Sound of Freedom” and is being promoted by right-wing influencers on social media, who have billed it as an anti-“woke” movie.

Key Facts

How Have Right-Wing Influencers Boosted “the King Of Kings?”

Some conservative influencers have championed “The King of Kings” on social media, many of whom Angel Studios has reposted on X, though it’s unclear whether the studio is working with them (Forbes has reached out to Angel Studios for comment). The studio has reposted four posts on X from right-wing commentator Benny Johnson over the past week, and the company’s Chief Content Officer Jeff Harmon appeared on Johnson’s YouTube show last week. In one of Johnson’s posts, reposted by Angel Studios, he said the “demand for faith-based, non-woke entertainment is undeniable,” citing the film’s positive audience scores. In his interview with Harmon, Johnson repeatedly described “The King of Kings” as counterprogramming to Disney’s remake of “Snow White,” which debuted in theaters last month amid a storm of controversy as conservative critics slammed it as “woke.” Harmon criticized the “race swapping” of “Snow White” in his interview with Johnson—Disney cast Latina actress Rachel Zegler to portray the titular princess, who is white in the original movie—and criticized Hollywood for recycling “junk food stories.” Angel Studios also reposted a post from Joey Mannario, a conservative commentator who has more than 600,000 followers on X, who said the studio “NEVER misses when it comes to bringing quality entertainment without any wokeness.” The studio also reposted Anna Lulis, a conservative user with more than 80,000 followers, who said the film’s success is evidence that “culture is shifting.”

How Else Did Angel Studios Make “the King Of Kings” A Hit?

“The Kings of Kings” benefits from a famous cast—Oscar Isaac voices Jesus, while Kenneth Branagh, Uma Thurman, Marc Hamill, Pierce Brosnan and Forest Whitaker also star—but distributor Angel Studios has also employed some of the marketing tactics that made “Sound of Freedom” a smash. The studio has employed a “pay-it-forward” program, which it has done for many of its releases, that allows moviegoers to purchase a ticket for those who could not otherwise afford it. The studio also offered free tickets for children attending the movie with an adult for a limited time. Angel Studios co-founder Jordan Harmon told Variety the studio succeeded because “people haven’t been fulfilling this massive of an audience for that long in terms of the animated space.”

How Has “the Chosen” Succeeded In Theaters?

Though “The Chosen” is a television series, which are not commonly released in theaters, distributor Fathom Entertainment has found success with faith-based releases, including episodes of the popular show. The distributor released two episodes of the third season of “The Chosen” in theaters in 2022, grossing $14.6 million, and it grossed $14.8 million in theaters last year after releasing three episodes of its fourth season in theaters. “The Chosen” has a large viewer base: By the end of 2022, at least 18 million people had watched at least part of one episode, the New York Times reported, and the show’s production was crowd-funded by thousands of people.

Chief Critics

“The King of Kings” received generally positive reviews and has a 64% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes. Multiple positive reviews described the movie as a “serviceable” adaptation of a well-known story, while the New York Times review accused the filmmakers of capitalizing on an “audience who senses a moral obligation to purchase tickets for every single retelling of Jesus’s life.” In his interview with Johnson, Harmon alleged the Rotten Tomatoes score used to be as high as 80%, but accused reviewers who “hate Jesus” and had a “bad experience with religion” of writing bad reviews. The Rotten Tomatoes audience score is a near-perfect 97%, and it is one of only 128 movies in history to receive the highest-possible A+ score from Cinemascore, which surveys moviegoers.

Key Background

Angel Studios notched its biggest hit to date in theaters in the summer of 2023 when “Sound of Freedom” shocked the industry by becoming the tenth highest-grossing film of the year at the domestic box office with $184 million in North America and $250 million worldwide. The film was boosted by right-wing influencers and many Republican politicians, including President Donald Trump, who praised it on Truth Social and hosted a screening at his Bedminster, New Jersey golf club. The movie drew scrutiny from critics who noted its star Jim Caviezel had reportedly spoken at events for QAnon, the conspiracy theory that the political and Hollywood elite are actually Satan-worshipping sex traffickers. The film depicted the anti-sex trafficking organization, Operation Underground Railroad, though a Vice investigation found in 2020 the group had exaggerated its role in rescue missions and that law enforcement agencies described their relationships to the group as “insubstantial.”

Further Reading

It Was a Very Good Box Office Weekend for Jesus (IndieWire)