‘The King Of Kings’: Animated Gift Of Faith From South Korea

Every Easter, a handful of Christian-themed productions comes out, and to be frank, most of them range from meh to awful. The King of Kings, an animated feature hitting theaters on April 11 from Angel Studios, is not one of those.

From Victorian England to South Korea

Produced by South Korea’s Mofac Animation — but co-written by Disney veteran Rob Edwards (The Princess and the Frog, Treasure Planet) — The King of Kings is inspired by The Life of Our Lord, written by Charles Dickens for his children, between 1846-1849.

As described by publisher Simon & Schuster:

Charles Dickens’s other Christmas classic, with a new introduction by Dickens’s great-great-grandson, Gerald Charles Dickens.
Charles Dickens wrote The Life of Our Lord during the years 1846-1849, just about the time he was completing David Copperfield. In this charming, simple retelling of the life of Jesus Christ, adapted from the Gospel of St. Luke, Dickens hoped to teach his young children about religion and faith. Since he wrote it exclusively for his children, Dickens refused to allow publication.
For eighty-five years the manuscript was guarded as a precious family secret, and it was handed down from one relative to the next. When Dickens died in 1870, it was left to his sister-in-law, Georgina Hogarth. From there it fell to Dickens’s son, Sir Henry Fielding Dickens, with the admonition that it should not be published while any child of Dickens lived.
Just before the 1933 holidays, Sir Henry, then the only living child of Dickens, died, leaving his father’s manuscript to his wife and children. He also bequeathed to them the right to make the decision to publish The Life of Our Lord. By majority vote, Sir Henry’s widow and children decided to publish the book in London. In 1934, Simon & Schuster published the first American edition, which became one of the year’s biggest bestsellers.

Directed, co-written and produced by South Korean filmmaker and VFX artist Seong-Ho “Jay” Jang, the film boasts an unusual but elegantly beautiful animation style and an impressive voice cast.

What Is The King of Kings About?

Weaving the book’s origin story into the Gospel narrative, the film opens with Dickens (Kenneth Branagh) giving one of his many public readings and talks. It all goes haywire, thanks to his little son Walter (Roman Griffin Davis), who’s obsessed with King Arthur, and Walter’s mischievous cat.

When the family returns home, Dickens and his wife, Catherine (Uma Thurman), still must deal with the rambunctious Walter. So, Dickens decides to tell the little boy a story about the King of Kings, Jesus Christ (Oscar Isaac).

As the story progresses from Bethlehem to Calvary, Dickens, Walter and the cat find themselves — in the fashion of an immersive Ignatian Meditation — woven into the fabric of the Bible narrative.

Other voices include Mark Hamill (King Herod), Pierce Brosnan (Pontius Pilate), Forest Whitaker (Peter) and Ben Kingsley (High Priest Caiaphas).

As a note of caution for families, while the child in the story is very young, the film does go right through the Crucifixion. That depiction, while restrained, may still be disturbing to littles, so parental discretion is advised.

Take a look:

The Greatest Story Ever Told Also Wins at the Box Office

The appearance of a well-produced, imaginative but faithful film for this Easter is not just a relief (especially for those of us who have to watch a lot of these things) but a vote of confidence for the future of the genre.

From Deadline:

Angel Studios‘ upcoming animated family faith-based feature The King of Kings, opening Friday at the domestic box office, is already counting north of $7.8 million in pre-sales, we hear.

That figure eclipses the presale number at the same point in time for Angel’s surprise 2023 hit Sound of Freedom, which posted a three-day total of $19.6M and a six-day of $41.6M. The action drama about Tim Ballard, a government agent-turned-vigilante, went on to make $184M domestic and $250M worldwide.

If the film’s ultimate box office lives up to the presales, we may have a hit on our hands.

UPDATE: 4/12, from The Hollywood Reporter:

The movie, inspired by a Charles Dickens’ tale of a boy and father who explore the life of Jesus, is headed for a second-place finish with $17 million to $18 million after earning $7 million Friday from 3,200 locations (in a successful marketing stunt, kids are being allowed in for free).

And it’s not the only one.

Meanwhile, The Chosen …

The Chosen: The Last Supper, the umbrella title for season 5 of the hit TV series, continues to flex in its initial run on the big screen.

The eight episodes are split into three parts for Fathom release in theaters. Part 1 (episodes 1 & 2) premiered on March 28; Part 2 (episodes 3, 4 & 5) landed on April 4; and Part 3 (episodes 6, 7 & 8) comes on April 11.

In June, the episodes land on Prime Video, the series’ new exclusive streaming home. Then, after a 90-day streaming window, they go to the The Chosen App, the original way the show was distributed.

Beginning with Palm Sunday, the season covers Holy Week, as Jesus (Jonathan Roumie) confounds His disciples and roils the political and religious waters during Passover in Jerusalem. Reportedly, season 6 is the Crucifixion, and season 7 is the Resurrection.

Each season-5 episode teases bits of the Last Supper, wrapped around drama and intrigue involving Pontius Pilate, the Sanhedrin, and the personal stories of the Apostles.

Although it’s unique for a TV show to premiere in theaters, this has proven to be a lucrative strategy for recent seasons of The Chosen, and this year is no exception. Both of the parts so far released have delivered top-five performances at the box office on their opening weekends.

From Collider.com:

Created by Dallas Jenkins, The Chosen series began rolling out episodes in theatrical installments in 2021, with Christmas with the Chosen: The Messengers grossing around $13 million domestically. The third season generated a combined total of around $30 million, while the fourth season made around $40 million in total. The two installments of the fifth season have so far generated around $25 million, with a final tally of $50 million on the cards. Part 1 is sitting at around $18 million, while Part 2 debuted with around $7 million this weekend. Combined, the franchise has grossed around $95 million so far.

Collider said it expects the franchise to pass the $100M mark before Part 3 hits screens.

The Last Supper Question

Considering that season 4 of The Chosen omitted the Bread of Life discourse (I discuss that in detail here), I’ll be curious to see how this depiction of the Last Supper ultimately deals with what Catholics see as the institution of the Eucharist as the actual Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ under the appearance of bread and wine.

Obviously, that’s not the view of Evangelical Jenkins or his co-writers, so it could get interesting.

Stay tuned.