Newsbites: His Only Son! The Chosen! Ordinary Angels!
A significant return on investment, a major casting change, and a new trailer.
Life has been busy, so this week’s Noah installment is a little late. In the meantime…
His Only Son investors get their money back, and more
Deseret News reports that the crowdfunders who paid for the theatrical distribution of His Only Son are getting their money back, and then some. The film, which depicts the life of Abraham and the binding of Isaac, was produced independently for only $250,000, but when Angel Studios came on board as distributor, they got over 2,000 people to invest $1.25 million in the film’s “prints & advertising”, i.e. the cost of promoting a film and making copies that can be sent to theatres.1 The film ended up being the #3 movie at the box office when it opened March 31, and it has grossed over $12 million so far. Now, Angel Studios says the investors will be getting “a 120% return” on their investment. No streaming release date has been announced yet. The studio is currently gauging interest in a sequel about Jacob, and over 2,200 potential investors have “expressed interest” in it so far, to the tune of over $2 million.
The Chosen replaces another disciple
Yoshi Barrigas, who played the apostle Philip in the second and third seasons of The Chosen, has confirmed that he is not returning to the series for season four. This will make Philip the second disciple, after Big James, who has been played by multiple actors on that show. (Big James is actually on his third actor now.) The loss of Barrigas and his version of Philip could have an impact on multiple character relationships within the series, given that Philip is an old friend of Nathanael’s, a former disciple of John the Baptist’s like Andrew, and something of a mentor to Matthew now.
Ordinary Angels gets a trailer
The next film from the producers of Jesus Revolution and the director of The Case for Christ has a trailer. Ordinary Angels stars Hilary Swank as a struggling hairdresser who rallies a community to help a widowed father save the life of his daughter, who is waiting for a liver transplant. The film comes out October 13.
I honestly have no idea if distributors still have to “make copies” of movies, even on hard drives. Maybe theatres just download movies now. Maybe it depends on the theatre.