A new biblical movie starringOscar Isaachas pulled off a box office achievement that hasn’t been accomplished in more than two and a half decades. Isaac is an Emmy-nominated actor with a wide variety of movies and television shows under his belt. He is perhaps best known for portraying Poe Dameron in the newestStar Warstrilogy, but other notable roles of his include portraying Marc Spector inMoon Knight, Duke Leto Atreides inDune, and Llewyn Davis inInside Llewyn Davis.
However, before any of thoseOscar Isaac movieswere made,he held his first major film role in 2006’sThe Nativity Story, a live-action biblical adaptation telling the story of the birth of Jesus, in which he played Joseph opposite Keisha Castle-Hughes as Mary. The majority of reviews for the movie were negative, earning it a 37% score on Rotten Tomatoes with an average rating of 5.6 out of 10. It was also a box office disappointment, grossing $46.4 million against its $35 million budget. Now, nearly two decades later, his newest biblical adaptation is so far performing much better.
The King Of Kings Has Broken A Record
The Movie Stars Oscar Isaac As Jesus
2025’sThe King of Kingshas broken a major box office record.The new animated movie depicts the life of Jesus Christ(Oscar Isaac) as told by Charles Dickens (Kenneth Branagh) to his son Walter (Roman Griffin Davis), adapting Dickens' own children’s bookThe Life of Our Lord. The star-studded voice cast of the movie, which was written and directed by Seong-ho Jang, also includes Forest Whitaker as Peter, Uma Thurman as Catherine Dickens, Mark Hamill as King Herod, Pierce Brosnan as Pontius Pilate, and Ben Kingsley as High Priest Caiaphas.
The King of Kingshas a 97% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, which is the best ever for an Oscar Isaac movie.
PerDeadline, as of Saturday morning,The King of Kingsis projected to earn a 3-day total of $17.6 million at the domestic box office by the end of its opening weekend. This will markthe best opening weekend of all time for an animated biblical movie, beating the 1998 DreamWorks classicThe Prince of Egypt($14.5 million). Other notable examples of the subgenre include 2017’sThe Star($9.8 million), and 2002’sJonah: A VeggieTales Movie($6.2 million).
Our Take On The King Of Kings Opening Weekend Record
Angel Studios' Techniques Are Controversial
While the box office performance ofThe King of Kingsis record-breaking, it may eventually face claims of being artificially inflated due to the same ticket-selling technique Angel Studios used for their2023 hitSound of Freedom, which grossed $251 million against its $14.5 million budget. For both movies,the distributor has employed their “Pay it Forward” program, which allows ticketbuyers to purchase tickets for others, though information on whether all of those tickets were actually collected or used by future viewers remains opaque.
The King of Kings
Cast
The King of Kings, released in 2025, explores Jesus Christ’s life through the eyes of an imaginative boy guided by his father’s retelling. The narrative weaves through Christ’s birth, miracles, and resurrection, while the boy embarks on a journey of faith, redemption, and the profound impact of love and forgiveness.
