The animated faith-based film The King of Kings has made history by setting a new record for the biggest opening for a biblical animated movie, surpassing the 1998 classic The Prince of Egypt—and it achieved this milestone through pre-sales alone.
With over $14.6 million in domestic pre-sales by Thursday, the film’s success signals a robust appetite for faith-based entertainment, according to industry experts.
Raymond Arroyo, Fox News contributor and host of the Arroyo Grande podcast, told Fox News Digital that the film’s performance demonstrates “clearly an audience and a market for faith-based entertainment.”
He attributes its strong debut to a combination of factors: a deep yearning for religious content, family-friendly appeal, and strategic timing just a week before Easter.
“They’ve smartly identified and understood that there is a massive underserved audience there of not only faithful people looking for depictions of faith on the screen and in their entertainment, but you also have families with very few options of places they can take their family to be entertained,” Arroyo said. He added, “This has got ‘winner’ written all over it.”
The King of Kings, based on Charles Dickens’ The Life of Our Lord—a story Dickens read to his children—retells the life of Jesus through an animated lens, featuring a star-studded voice cast including Pierce Brosnan, Uma Thurman, Kenneth Branagh, Mark Hamill, Ben Kingsley, Forest Whitaker, and Oscar Isaac.
Arroyo praised the casting, noting it creates an accessible framework for families.
“It’s a father telling a story to a child,” he said, highlighting how the film educates children on both faith and literature by introducing them to Dickens. “It just becomes a frame of reference for families.”
The film’s buzz reflects broader trends in the faith-based genre, which has seen significant successes over the years.
Doug Eldridge, a public relations expert, pointed to Mel Gibson’s 2004 film The Passion of the Christ, which grossed $612 million globally, and 2014’s Heaven Is for Real, which earned $101 million on a $2 million budget, as evidence of the genre’s potential.
“Mel Gibson proved 20 years ago that faith-based movies can be successful when Hollywood kind of turned its back on this audience,” Arroyo noted, recalling how Gibson’s personal investment in The Passion broke box office records despite initial skepticism.
Eldridge also suggested that The King of Kings benefits from a cultural shift toward embracing traditional Christian values, amplified by its high-profile cast and animated format.
“An animated retelling of the story of Jesus—especially one featuring the voice talent of notable Hollywood names—is arriving at the right time, for the right audience,” he said.
Public relations expert Matt Wolf echoed this sentiment, telling Fox News Digital, “You can make the argument that Americans are definitely looking for more faith in their entertainment, especially content that reflects their values and beliefs.”
Arroyo emphasized that audiences don’t want heavy-handed messaging but rather stories that respect their sensibilities while entertaining.
“They just want to be acknowledged and have their sensibilities respected,” he said, citing The Passion of the Christ as an example of “high art” that balances faith and storytelling.
As The King of Kings heads into its opening weekend, its record-breaking pre-sales and all-star appeal position it as a standout in the faith-based genre, proving that stories rooted in faith can resonate widely when crafted with care and authenticity.
