(ANALYSIS) Two recent events have made major headlines in the faith-based film industry. The first was the dominance of faith-based, politically right-wing films at the domestic box office. The second was Dallas Jenkins’ announcement that his “The Chosen” TV series about Jesus was expanding into a whole “The Chosen” universe of shows.
These twin announcements give us the clearest picture of the faith-based industry’s future. And validate a prediction I made for the industry just last year.
The weekend of September 13-15 saw four out of the top 10 movies at the U.S. box office specifically made to appeal to the Christian right. Matt Walsh’s “Am I Racist?” documentary made mainstream news by coming in fourth at the box office with 4.7 million, the biggest opening for a documentary since Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11” 20 years ago. The film — a Borat-style satire of antiracist DEI ideology — was made by the conservative media company The Daily Wire.
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That was only the tip of the iceberg. “Reagan” — the biopic love letter to Ronald Reagan starring Dennis Quaid — also stayed in the top 10 (in fifth place) with $3 million in its third weekend.
At the same time, the Kendrick Brothers’ “The Forge” came in at ninth with $2 million and the religious political drama “God’s Not Dead: In God We Trust” came in at No. 10 with $1.5 million. (“Am I Racist?” and “Reagan” have stayed in the top ten this past week at Nos. 7 and 8, respectively).
‘The Chosen’ universe expands
“The Chosen” creator and showrunner Dallas Jenkins, meanwhile, used this year’s “Chosen Con” (exactly what it sounds like, an annual convention for fans of “The Chosen” in Orlando) to announce the launch of a new venture called “5&2 Studios,” which they will use to produce multiple Biblical TV shows over the next several years.
The aim is to spin off of the original “Chosen” and includes an adaptation of the Book of Acts (“The Way of The Chosen”), a miniseries about Joseph, a three-season show about Moses, a reality survival TV show starring Bear Grylls and an animated show about kids meeting Jesus, starring Paul Walter Hauser.
The faith-based film industry has been due for a shakeup for some time. Its modern form launched with Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of The Christ” in 2004, which became the highest-grossing R-rated film ever at that time. This created a gold rush by different parties to see who would claim the market. Hollywood put out Biblical blockbusters like “Noah” and “Exodus: Gods and Kings” from some of their top directors like Darren Aronofsky and Ridley Scott. Legendary filmmakers like Martin Scorcese and Paul Schrader funded religious passion projects like “Silence” and “First Reformed,” respectively.
Independent Christian creators, like the Kendrick Brothers, made low-budget inspirational Christian family dramas that deeply resonated with audiences and were so cheap to make that their ROI was incredible. So much so that Hollywood studios like Sony started helping fund those projects.
By the time “I Can Only Imagine” hit theaters in 2019 and became the highest-grossing independent film of that year, it was clear which model of the faith-based film industry had won. The Biblical blockbusters and filmmaker passion projects were box office disappointments. “God’s Not Dead” had lost steam. The future was clear: Secular studios funding Christian filmmakers with a proven track record of making family-friendly inspirational dramas that appeal primarily to Christian moms who want a feel-good family and Christian-friendly content.
Lionsgate partnered with Jon Erwin’s Kingdom Story Company to make movies with trusted collaborators like Jon Gunn, while Angel Studios funded Dallas Jenkins (who would later partner with Lionsgate and other distributors). Amazon has found success teaming up with Roma Downey on projects like “On a Wing and a Prayer” and Jon Gunn on the upcoming “House of David” TV show).
With Jenkins’ announcement of “The Chosen” universe, the faith-based film industry Wild West is officially over. An establishment has been firmly created. The Erwin Brothers Kingdom Storybook Company, Jenkins’ 5&2 Studios, and people like Downey are the power players of the industry which partner with secular distributors to incubate and attract Christian creatives to tell stories for the faith-based market. And with Jenkins’ team’s steady work to translate their shows into other languages, this could have a sizable global impact as well.
Obviously — just like the big names of Hollywood studios — the individual players can and will be shaken up from time to time. And there will always be independent players. But the era of establishing an establishment is over. Any other players will somehow react to, compete with or subvert this establishment.
Angel Studios is a particularly interesting wild card. They are a Utah-based studio that had hits with “The Chosen” and “Sound of Freedom,” but they’ve had a hard time recreating those successes. And “The Chosen” parting ways with them this year was a huge blow.
While this iteration of faith-based industry films has never been bigger, it’s also — in other ways — likely peaked. As I wrote last year, its model is largely built on marketing primarily to the tastes and values of American married Christian moms. And with the steady decline of women getting married in America — and when they do, getting married later — that audience is shrinking. Single women wildly differ in their values from married women (as seen in their voting patterns) and single women are increasingly leaving Christianity. For the first time in recent memory, more men are going to church in the younger generations than women.
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