The Chosen Season 3 starts streaming next week
The Chosen Season 3 starts streaming next week
The first all-new (i.e. not currently in theatres) episode could address whether Mary had other children besides Jesus – and it's coming out Christmas Day.
Two quick news items about the third season of The Chosen:
The season will start streaming on a weekly basis next weekend, December 10-11.
Episodes 1 & 2 have now grossed an estimated $14.4 million in theatres.
A few more details on both points follow below.
First, regarding the streaming:
Angel Studios and director Dallas Jenkins announced today that the first six episodes will premiere on YouTube, Facebook, and The Chosen’s official app every Sunday night at 4pm PST / 7pm EST from December 11 to January 15.
People who pay a $300 ‘Pay It Forward’ fee will be able to watch the episodes 24 hours earlier, on Saturday nights from December 10 to January 14.
Episodes 7 & 8 do not yet have release dates. Jenkins has indicated in the past that those episodes might go to theatres first, just like Episodes 1 & 2.
There will be a new “aftershow” in the app this season.
The first two episodes are, of course, currently playing in theatres. So the first truly brand new episode—the third episode—will come out on Christmas Day (or on Christmas Eve, for those who paid for early access).
This is interesting, as the episode in question—titled ‘Physician, Heal Thyself’, a nod to Luke 4:23—will show Jesus visiting Nazareth for the first time since the series began, and it seems that this will be the first episode to acknowledge the existence of Jesus’ brothers and sisters. (A scene from the episode, in which Jesus asks Mary where James and Jude are, was previewed during a livestream on September 20.)
Releasing an episode about Jesus’ family at Christmas could be hugely significant, as different churches have very different traditions about that family—traditions that reflect very different beliefs about the virginity of Mary and possibly even Joseph. (Were the siblings of Jesus his half-siblings, i.e. children of Mary? Were they his step-siblings, i.e. children of Joseph from a previous marriage? Were they adopted? Were they more distant relatives, like cousins? Some combination of the above?)
The Chosen has, until now, sidestepped those controversies by avoiding any depiction of the siblings of Jesus whatsoever, even in stories where they did play some sort of role (e.g. John 2:12 seems to indicate that the brothers of Jesus attended the wedding in Cana, but we do not see them at all in the episode about that wedding).1
It is possible that the show will find some way to thread the needle and stay agnostic on the question of how, exactly, those siblings were related to Jesus and Mary. But it would be interesting, to say the least, if, on the day that Christians of all stripes celebrate the Virgin Birth of Jesus, the series did take a position on whether Mary remained a virgin all her life or went on to have other children with Joseph.
As ever, we shall see.
In the meantime, three other, and very trivial, observations about this season:
Episodes 4 & 5 share a title, as ‘Clean Part 1’ and ‘Clean Part 2’. This suggests the series is about to have what you might call its first two-part storyline.
Episode 6 is titled ‘Intensity in Tent City’, which reflects a proclivity for puns that has been with this series ever since the very first episode began with someone mocking Matthew, the publicanus, by calling him a “public anus”.
If Episodes 7 & 8 get a theatrical release after Episode 6 has started streaming, the first weekend that would be available to them is the weekend of January 20-22. That’s just a few days before Left Behind: Rise of the Antichrist—based on the Left Behind novels written by Jenkins’ father—comes to theatres January 26.
Second, regarding the box-office performance of Episodes 1 & 2:
The theatrical release grossed $8.8 million in its first weekend (November 18-20), $1.6 million in its second weekend (November 25-22), and is estimated to have grossed only $310,013 in its current third weekend (December 2-4).
That sharp drop-off is typical of films like this that play to a strong fanbase. The hardcore fans tend to show up for the opening weekend, period—especially if the film’s availability beyond that weekend wasn’t even confirmed until after the weekend itself. (The Chosen Season 3 was originally going to be in theatres for just five days; it didn’t get an extension until that first weekend was over.)
This weekend’s haul brings the total North American gross to $14.4 million.
The Chosen Season 3 has now beaten the $13.7 million that Christmas with The Chosen: The Messengers grossed in its first two weeks last year—although no grosses were reported for that film beyond those two weeks, so we won’t be able to make any direct comparisons between the two films from here on.
The Chosen Season 3 is currently well ahead of several Oscar contenders at the box office, such as Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans ($5.6 million), Tár ($5.2 million), Till ($8.8 million), and The Banshees of Inisherin ($8.3 million).
The figures from overseas are incomplete, but the film has earned at least $66,157 so far in the UK and New Zealand. Box Office Mojo does not yet have any figures for Australia, which was also supposed to get the theatrical release.
And that about covers it. See you all at the livestream next Sunday.
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And now, for those who like numbers: Here is how The Chosen Season 3 currently ranks at the North American box office next to other Bible-themed movies that have played in theatres over the past 43 years (not adjusting for inflation):
2004 — The Passion of the Christ — $370.8 million
1998 — The Prince of Egypt — $101.4 million
2014 — Noah — $101.2 million
2014 — Exodus: Gods and Kings — $65 million
2014 — Son of God — $59.7 million
2017 — The Shack — $57.4 million
2009 — Year One — $43.3 million
2017 — The Star — $40.9 million
2006 — The Nativity Story — $37.6 million
2016 — Risen — $36.9 million
1981 — History of the World, Part I — $31.7 million
2016 — Hail, Caesar! — $30.5 million
2016 — Ben-Hur — $26.4 million
2002 — Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie — $25.6 million
1979 — Monty Python’s Life of Brian — $20 million
2018 — Paul, Apostle of Christ — $17.6 million
2022 — The Chosen Season 3: Episodes 1 & 2 — $14.4 million
1980 — Wholly Moses! — $14.2 million
2021 — Christmas with The Chosen: The Messengers — $13.7 Million
2006 — One Night with the King — $13.4 million
2022 — Redeeming Love — $9.2 million
1988 — The Last Temptation of Christ — $8.4 million
2016 — The Young Messiah — $6.5 million
1985 — King David — $5.1 million
2018 — Samson — $4.7 million
2003 — The Gospel of John — $4.1 million
2014 — The Song — $1.0 million
2007 — The Ten Commandments — $952,820
2018 — Mary Magdalene — $124,741
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The Chosen interviews:
Season 1: Dallas Jenkins, co-writer/director (Dec 2019)
Season 2: Dallas Jenkins, co-writer/director (May 2021) | Derral Eves, producer, on Christmas with The Chosen: The Messengers (Nov 2021) | Dallas Jenkins on the ‘The Chosen Is Not Good’ marketing campaign (Apr 2022)
Season 3: Jordan Walker Ross, Little James (Oct 2022) | Vanessa Benavente, Mother Mary (Nov 2022) | Kirk B.R. Woller, Gaius (Nov 2022)
The Chosen recaps:
Season 1: review | scripture index
Episode recaps: The Shepherd | one | two | three | four | five | six | seven | eightSeason 2: The Messengers review | scripture index
Episode recaps: one | two | three | four | five | six | seven | eight | The Messengers
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The Chosen can be streamed via Angel Studios or the show’s app (Android | Apple).
From my interview with Dallas Jenkins in December 2019, after Season 1 had come out: “The following question is asked by both evangelicals and Catholics: Are you going to portray Jesus as having brothers? . . . But they ask it with extremely different tones of voice! The evangelicals ask, (upbeat voice) ‘So, are you going to show Jesus’s brothers?’ And the Catholics ask, (sober voice) ‘So, are you going to portray Jesus as having brothers?’ . . . So I personally do not know yet if we are going to portray Jesus as having siblings.”