Trailer round-up: The Chosen Season 5! The King of Kings!
The life-of-Jesus series and the animated Charles Dickens adaptation are both coming to theatres mere days or weeks before Easter 2025.
Another week, another couple of Bible-movie trailers! And, with them, a couple of newly confirmed release dates.
The Chosen: Last Supper — coming March 27, 2025
First, there is this teaser for The Chosen Season 5—which is now being called The Chosen: Last Supper (it’s the first season to get its own title), and which, according to an accompanying press release, is actually coming to theatres on March 27, 2025 (and not just in April, as the title card at the end of this teaser would seem to imply):1
Among other things, this teaser reveals or alludes to:
The triumphal entry into Jerusalem, continuing from the final scenes of the previous season (Mark 11:7-11, Matthew 21:7-11, Luke 19:35-44, John 12:12-19).
Jesus making a whip (John 2:15) and causing a disturbance in the Temple (Mark 11:15-17, Matthew 21:12-13, Luke 19:45-46, John 2:13-17).2
Ramah’s father Kafni confronting Thomas.
The city and/or the Temple on fire, which I’m guessing is a flash-forward to the destruction of the Temple by the Romans roughly 40 years after the events of this series (as predicted by Jesus in Mark 13, Matthew 24, and Luke 21:5-36).
The Last Supper itself, natch (Mark 14:17-31, Matthew 26:20-35, Luke 22:13-38, John 13-17).
The press release says The Chosen: Last Supper will be released theatrically in three parts, similar to The Chosen Season 4—but it sounds like all three parts will come out simultaneously this time, to allow for full-season binge-watching in theatres:
During a four-week run in the U.S. and Canada, all episodes of The Chosen: Last Supper will be released in three parts – Part One (episodes 1-2), Part Two (episodes 3, 4, 5), and Part Three (episodes 6, 7, 8), which will enable viewing of all episodes throughout the entire run. (emphasis added)
For what it’s worth, a four-week run beginning March 27 would mean the season will stay in theatres until a few days after Easter, which is on April 20 next year.
The season will also be released internationally by Trafalgar Releasing—starting on April 10, 2025—and it will start streaming sometime after its theatrical run.
The King of Kings — coming April 11, 2025
Next, there is this teaser for The King of Kings, the star-studded animated adaptation of Charles Dickens’ The Life of Our Lord from South Korean director Seong-Ho Jang, which has now been picked up by Angel Studios and will be released in theatres on April 11, 2025—just two days before Palm Sunday:
Among other things, this teaser reveals or alludes to:
Various aspects of the Nativity (Matthew 1:18-2:12, Luke 2:1-20).
Mary, Joseph, and little Jesus in Egypt (Matthew 2:13-15).
The miraculous catch of fish (Luke 5:1-11, or possibly John 21:1-14).
The feeding of the multitude (Mark 6:30-44, 8:1-9; Matthew 14:13-21, 15:29-38; Luke 9:10-17; John 6:1-13).
Jesus walking on the water (Mark 6:45-52, Matthew 14:22-33, John 6:16-21).
Jesus raising Lazarus (John 11:1-44).
The triumphal entry into Jerusalem (Mark 11:1-11, Matthew 21:1-11, Luke 19:28-44, John 12:12-19).
Jesus overturning a table at the Temple (Mark 11:15-17, Matthew 21:12-13, Luke 19:45-46, John 2:13-22).
Pilate presenting Jesus to the crowd (Mark 15:6-15, Matthew 27:15-26, Luke 23:13-25, John 18:38-19:16).
The Crucifixion (Mark 15:21-40, Matthew 27:32-56, Luke 23:26-49, John 19:16-37).
As noted in the teaser, the film’s voice cast includes Bible-movie veterans Oscar Isaac (The Nativity Story) as Jesus, Forest Whitaker (Black Nativity) as Peter, Ben Kingsley (Exodus: Gods & Kings, etc.) as Caiaphas, and Mark Hamill (Joseph King of Dreams, etc.) as Herod, as well as Pierce Brosnan as Pilate, Kenneth Branagh as Charles Dickens, Uma Thurman as Charles’s wife Catherine, and Roman Griffin Davis as Charles and Catherine’s son Walter, to whom Charles tells the story of Jesus’ life.
Upcoming Bible-themed movies and TV shows — an updated list
With the newly-announced release dates, we now have an updated schedule for all the Bible-themed movies and TV shows that have already been at least partially filmed and are due to come out in the next year or so.
Here’s the list (all dates subject to change):
December 6, 2024 — Mary (streaming: Netflix)
March 2025 — The Last Supper (theatrical: Pinnacle Peak)
March 27, 2025 — The Chosen: Last Supper (theatrical: Fathom Events)
April 11, 2025 — The King of Kings (theatrical: Angel Studios)
April-May 2025 — Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints part 2 (includes episode on Mary Magdalene; streaming: Fox Nation)
September 5, 2025 — Light of the World (theatrical: Salvation Poem Project)
November 21, 2025 — David (theatrical: Angel Studios)
2025 (no month specified) — The Chosen Adventures (streaming)
2025 (no month specified) — Gabriel and the Guardians (streaming: Angel Studios)
2025 (no month specified) — Testament (streaming: Angel Studios)
2025 (no month specified) — House of David (streaming: Prime Video)
2025 (no month specified) — The Promised Land season 1 (streaming)
2025 (no month specified) — Bethlehem (theatrical: Angel Studios)
no release date specified — The Carpenter’s Son (theatrical…?)
no release date specified — Judas’ Gospel (theatrical…?)
who knows when Malick will finish it — The Way of the Wind (theatrical)
Did I forget any films or shows? If so, please let me know, and I’ll add ’em to the list.
Series creator Dallas Jenkins also said last month that the theatrical release would begin in “early April”. So the March 27 release date might have been a very late development that took place after the teaser had already been finalized.
Notably, John says Jesus caused a disturbance at the Temple at the beginning of his ministry, while the other gospels say he did it at the end of his ministry—and in Mark and Luke, his actions are what prompt the authorities to finally kill him a few days later.
Some interpreters think the gospels are describing two different disturbances in the Temple, while other interpreters think the gospels are describing the same disturbance but putting it at different places on the timeline. Either way, The Chosen basically combines these accounts by placing this incident at the end of Jesus’ ministry (as per Mark, Matthew, and Luke) while also focusing on how he made a whip for the occasion (as per John).