Zero A.D. gets a release date
Angel Studios has quietly updated the release plans for Zero A.D., the Nativity movie from Sound of Freedom director Alejandro Monteverde.
Originally set for release last Christmas, the film was bumped to next Christmas at the last minute—after trailers and posters had already come out—to make room for the animated David musical, which turned out to be Angel Studios’ biggest hit since, well, Sound of Freedom.
Now Zero A.D. has a specific release date: December 11.
There are no new trailers yet as far as I can tell, but the titles to the existing teaser and trailer have been tweaked on YouTube to reflect the new date:
The film also has a new poster with the new date:
As far as I can tell, the only other film getting a wide release that week is Clarissa, a Nigerian adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway. Nothing from the major studios. Does that mean Zero A.D. has a shot at being #1 for the week? Possibly, but it all depends on how well Disney’s Hexed is doing (it will be in its third week by then).
The week after that is the week that Avengers: Doomsday and Dune: Part Three come out. And the week after that is Christmas, when there will be even more new films (Jumanji: Open World, The Angry Birds Movie 3, and so on).
So, Zero A.D. will have a lot of competition. But between the seasonal subject matter and the fact that audiences turned out for another Bible movie from Angel—i.e. David—last year, it has a shot at making its mark. As ever, we shall see.
Daniel and the Fiery Furnace gets a poster
Speaking of movie posters, EKKL has released one for Daniel and the Fiery Furnace, the biblical drama coming to theatres September 18.
The movie stars Aladdin’s Mena Massoud as the prophet Daniel and The Chosen’s Elijah Alexander as the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar.
Christian pop star Michael W. Smith recently joined the film as an executive producer. He previously recorded a cover of ‘Awesome God’ for the film during its fund-raising phase; I don’t know if the song was included on the movie’s actual soundtrack in the end, but the film’s score was composed by his son Tyler Michael Smith.
Here’s the trailer for the movie, in case you haven’t seen it already:
The Promised Land gets a soundtrack album
And speaking of soundtracks…
There are many things I like about The Promised Land, the Office-style sitcom about Moses leading the Israelites in the wilderness, and one of them is the music. So I’m happy to report that the Season 1 soundtrack is now available on all the usual platforms. It runs a brisk 16 minutes, and it includes the Dick Dale-esque opening-credits theme, the praise song led by Miriam (Shereen Khan), and the a cappella version of ‘Ain’t We Got Fun’ performed by Korah’s group with Exodus-specific lyrics.
Here’s the Spotify version:
If you go to the show’s YouTube channel, you can also watch a couple of clips from the series that feature these tracks.
The ‘Open Auditions’ clip, for example, has ‘Ain’t We Got Fun’:
And in ‘Miriam’s Song’, Miriam leads the Israelites in a praise song based on Psalm 27:4—which was actually written by David at least two centuries after this series takes place, but why quibble?:
The entire season is available to stream via YouTube and Angel Studios. I’ve written detailed notes on all six episodes, starting here:
Exorcist II: The Heretic gets a documentary
And now for something completely different…
I’m a big, big fan of The Exorcist, but not so much of the sequels and prequels. Still, some of them are interesting—even weirdly fascinating—in their own right, and the weirdest of them all is 1977’s Exorcist II: The Heretic, which abandons the grounded gritty realism of the original film for a bizarre mix of cheesy sci-fi (people reading each other’s minds with headbands and lightbulbs!) and insect-in-flight POV shots.
Now, just in time for the film’s 50th anniversary, there’s a documentary about the film and its director John Boorman (Point Blank, Deliverance, Zardoz, Excalibur, Hope and Glory, etc.) called Boorman and the Devil, and it’s coming to theatres August 28.
Yellow Veil Pictures released a trailer for it this week, and you can watch it here:
And because I can never pass up an opportunity to share the original trailer for Exorcist II, which gives you a sense of the strangeness of it all, here it is:
I don’t know if I’ll get a chance to see the documentary any time soon, but I did write some informal notes about Exorcist II: The Heretic a couple decades ago, which I re-posted during the run-up to the ill-fated The Exorcist: Believer in 2023.
You can read those notes here:
Upcoming Bible movies and TV shows
August 9, 2026 — The Chosen in the Wild with Bear Grylls (streaming: Prime Video)
September 10-17, 2026 — The Passion of the Christ re-release with The Resurrection of the Christ sneak peak (theatrical: Fathom)
September 18, 2026 — Daniel and the Fiery Furnace (theatrical: EKKL)
October 2, 2026 — The Flood: End of Mankind (theatrical)
October 30, 2026 — Sight & Sound Presents: Joshua Live! (theatrical: Roadside)
November 15-December 6, 2026 — The Chosen: Season 6: Episodes 1-6 (streaming: Prime Video)
December 11, 2026 — Zero A.D. (theatrical: Angel Studios)
March 12, 2027 — The Chosen: Crucifixion (theatrical: Amazon MGM)
May 6, 2027 — The Resurrection of the Christ: Part One (theatrical: Lionsgate)
first half of 2027 — Joseph of Egypt (streaming: Prime Video)
sometime in 2027 — Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints: Season 2 part 2 (streaming: Fox Nation)
March 31, 2028 — The Chosen: Season 7: Premiere (theatrical: Amazon MGM)
May 25, 2028 — The Resurrection of the Christ: Part Two (theatrical: Lionsgate)
no release date specified — The First Exorcist (theatrical: Helium Pictures)
no release date specified — House of David: Season 3 (streaming: Wonder Project)
no release date specified — Jacob (theatrical: Angel Studios)
no release date specified — Job (theatrical)
no release date specified — Paradise Lost (theatrical: Ex Machina Studios)
no release date specified — The Promised Land: Season 2 (streaming)
who knows when Malick will finish it — The Way of the Wind (theatrical)