Biblical box office: How productions like The Chosen are bringing Christianity to a screen near you

Last weekend was something of a Sunday school special for the box office.

In a surprise show of strength, the Dickens adaptation King of Kings, telling the story of Jesus Christ's life and crucifixion, exploded with a $19-million US debut. For an animated movie in April, this was surprising — given the fact it was a biblical blockbuster, even more so.

Dreamworks' The Prince of Egypt set the opening-weekend high water-mark for a faith-based animated film back in 1998. But in terms of scriptural media, the success of King of Kings is far from a one-off.

The recent fifth season of The Chosen also outperformed expectations. Plus, the Christian series saw its first three parts premiere in theatres to a combined total of more than $36 million US, helping cement religious programming as an appetizing genre for studios and audiences alike.

"People are hungry for something. They're hungry for change. They're hungry for positive. They're hungry for light," explained The Chosen's Jonathan Roumie, who plays Jesus, during an interview with CBC. "They're hungry for the light that the gospels ultimately provide."

Earlier this year, Amazon Prime Video's House of David — charting the rise of the biblical shepherd boy — had more than 22 million tuning in for the first 17 days after its February release. According to Amazon MGM Studios, that placed it in the top 10 of U.S. series debuts.

Lionsgate's The Best Christmas Pageant Ever — the proselytizing, Pete Holmes-led Christmas movie — managed an already impressive $40 million US, which was made even more impressive by the fact it was competing with heavyweights Wicked and Moana 2. 

Meanwhile, Christ-derived stories from Martin Scorsese (The Life of Jesus), Terrence Malick (The Way of the Wind) and Mel Gibson (two sequels to The Passion) are all reportedly in the works. According to Roumie, that interest and the recent successes speak to a widespread fanbase with a variety of beliefs.

"I think ... about 30 per cent of our audience globally does not identify as religious or churchgoing, whether that be agnostic or atheistic," he said of The Chosen. "To us, that's just an increasing proof that the power of this series is in its storytelling."

It's far from the first time Christianity has buttressed the box office. In Hollywood's early efforts to differentiate itself from the new invention of television, studios shifted away from creating a lot of productions to funnelling their money into fewer but more big-budget spectacles, according to University of Bologna associate professor Marco Cucco.

The hope was that they would convince audiences a trip to the theatre was worth it. To further cement the appeal, those early precursors to the modern-day blockbuster largely drew from historical stories, legends and fables that people were already aware of. That included biblical tales, like Ben-Hur, The Greatest Story Ever Told, 1961's live-action King of Kings and The Ten Commandments. 

It wasn't until the stunning success of Jaws fundamentally shifted the cinematic landscape toward action films in the mid-1970s that that biblical formula started to fade.

Catholic priest and film critic Eric Mah said the wind had more or less left the sails for faith-based films. The reason for their return to prominence, he argued, is in the updated way in which these stories are told.

"The thing about religion just in general, if it's lived authentically and is taught authentically, it's supposed to speak to the human experience," he said.