TORONTO – With the passing of Pope Francis on Easter Monday, Catholics will be grieving their loss while simultaneously looking ahead to his successor – whoever he may be. And while the 266th Holy Pontiff left during a tumultuous time in human history, there appears to be a slight cultural shift back toward Christian-based values – both at the movies and arguably at the ballot box. Take the latest faith-based movie from Angel Studios, The King of Kings, an animated film loosely inspired by the Charles Dickens children’s book “The Life of Our Lord”. In just two weekends, the film has raked in $50 mil lion at the box office.
In television land, the fifth season of the hit series The Chosen recently kicked oƒ with a phased theatrical release. The Chosen, a historical drama based on the life of Jesus from the perspective of those who knew him, has more than 280 million viewers in 175 countries. It’s a consistently top performer across platforms like Peacock, Netflix and Amazon Prime. For perspective, the Season 4 premier episode of The Chosen brought in 4.2 million viewers over 3 days in the U.S., while the previous #1 show (in 2024) The Last of Us took in 2.9 million in its first four days.
And just recently, news broke that Mel Gibson’s Jesus sequel to The Resurrection of the Christ is slated to begin filming in August of 2025 at Cinecittà Studios. The film is also expected to shoot in various ancient Southern Italian locations, including Matera, Ginosa, Gravina Laterza, and Altamura. The original, which was released in 2004, became the highest-grossing Christian film of all time, as well as the highest-grossing independent film of all time. Gibson famously financed the film himself when Studios panicked over its “polarizing” subject matter.
Another religious-themed project currently being produced in Cinecittà Studios is Terry Gilliam’s Carnival, according to Notorious Pictures President Guglielmo Marchetti. In a recent interview with Box Office Biz, Marchetti confirmed financing for the project which is employing 3000 people at Cinecittà – where sets are currently being built for the film. According to the film’s o“cial description, “God is disappointed with what’s gone down on planet Earth and wants to wipe out Humanity”. But Satan, being played by Johnny Depp, wants to “save” humanity by choosing the next Adam and Eve.
While Hollywood hasn’t always hit the mark with its bible-based films, these Christ-centric projects achieve something that eludes the scriptures: a tangible impression of the personal appearance of Christ. The Gospel authors quite rightly focused on his message and mission, hardly if ever endeavoring to humanize him with mundane descriptions. But such is the power of the visual medium. It can rouse the imagination and perhaps even a new belief, via the magic of moving pictures. And so while Pope Francis is no longer with us, the ever-growing interest in Christ remains, and no less at the movies.
The King of Kings poster courtesy of Angel Studio Studios and The Chosen poster courtesy of 5&2 Studios
Massimo Volpe is a filmmaker and freelance writer from Toronto: he writes reviews of Italian films/content on Netflix
