Video round-up: King of Kings! Scorsese! Testament! Light of the World! Zero A.D.!
Some new teasers and trailers, and an exclusive clip.
Time for another round-up of trailers, clips, and other videos.
The King of Kings — April 11
First up, an exclusive!
Angel Studios gave me a clip from The King of Kings—an animated movie coming out this week, in which Charles Dickens (Kenneth Branagh) tells his son Walter (Roman Griffin Davis) the story of Jesus—to share with you all. In it, Walter watches as the three Magi meet King Herod (Mark Hamill). You can watch the clip above.
Animation Magazine also has a clip from the film, in which Dickens’ wife Catherine (Uma Thurman) encourages him to tell their son the story of Jesus. You can watch that clip here.
And, Angel Studios has released a music video for a song from the film called ‘Live Like That’, performed by Kristin Chenoweth. You can watch the video, which includes some footage from the film, below.
Previous videos for The King of Kings:
An interview with the director, with concept art and test footage (April 11, 2024)
The teaser (November 28, 2024)
The first trailer (February 21, 2025)
The final trailer (March 26, 2025)
Tickets for The King of Kings can be purchased via Angel Studios.
Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints Part 2 — Mary Magdalene episode April 18
Fox Nation has started to release the second batch of episodes from Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints. (The first batch came out in November and December.)
Last week’s episode was about St Francis of Assisi, and tomorrow’s will be about Moses the Black. The episode I’m most interested in is about Mary Magdalene, and it starts streaming on Good Friday (April 18).
You can watch a trailer for all three episodes above, and a behind-the-scenes video about the St Francis episode below:
This brings the total number of episodes released so far to seven. The series was originally going to have eight episodes, but the one about Thomas Becket seems to have been cancelled, or at least delayed. The press release makes no mention of it, in any case.
Previous videos for Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints:
The trailer for the first four episodes (November 2, 2024)
Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints is streaming on Fox Nation in the US. I don’t know if it is available in any other countries. (It doesn’t appear to be streaming anywhere in Canada; I’ve been keeping up with the series via screeners.)
Testament — coming this summer
Angel Studios has released a teaser for Testament, a series—spun off from the 2022 movie Testament: The Parables Retold—that sets the book of Acts in an alternate version of the present day.
The teaser doesn’t seem to depict any particular stories from the book of Acts—it just sets up the general opposition between the priests and the followers of Jesus—but it does end with the tagline “Wait for the gift my Father promised,” which is something Jesus says to the apostles in Acts 1:4. You can watch the teaser above.
Previous videos for Testament (i.e. the ones I’ve posted or written about; there are many more on the Angel Studios and Testament-specific YouTube pages):
The ‘The Journey Begins’ livestream (July 6, 2022)
The ‘Worldwide Premiere Watch Party’ video (October 8, 2022)
The ‘Why This Story?’ watch party video (February 19, 2023)
The ‘Production dates revealed!’ video (October 21, 2023)
The ‘We Are Filming!’ livestream (February 16, 2024)
The ‘Week 1 Recap’, ‘Ministers Unwrapped’, and ‘Exclusive First Look’ videos (July 26, 2024)
The ‘Week 3 Recap’ and ‘Minister Ananias’ videos (August 31, 2024)
Testament will start streaming on the Angel app sometime this summer.
Light of the World — September 5
The Salvation Poem Project has released the first full trailer for Light of the World, a traditionally-animated movie about Jesus coming to theatres in September.
Among other things, this trailer appears to reveal or allude to:
The baptism of Jesus (Mark 1:9-11, Matthew 3:13-17, Luke 3:21-22; see also John 1:29-34, which does not mention the baptism, per se, but does mention that John the Baptist saw the Spirit come down as a dove and remain on Jesus).
The miraculous catch of fish (Luke 5:1-11).
The turning of water to wine (John 2:1-11).
The exorcism of Mary Magdalene (Luke 8:2).
The healing of the paralytic (Mark 2:1-12, Matthew 9:1-8, Luke 5:17-26).
Jesus walking on the water (Mark 6:45-52, Matthew 14:22-33, John 6:16-21).
The triumphal entry into Jerusalem (Mark 11:7-11, Matthew 21:7-11, Luke 19:35-44, John 12:12-19).
The arrest of Jesus in Gethsemane (Mark 14:43-50, Matthew 26:47-56, Luke 22:47-53, John 18:2-12).
Jesus appearing before Pontius Pilate and being presented to the crowd (Mark 15:1-15, Matthew 27:11-26, Luke 23:1-25, John 18:28-19:16)
Jesus carrying his cross (Mark 15:20-22, Matthew 27:31-33, Luke 23:26-32, John 19:17).
The Crucifixion (Mark 15:21-40, Matthew 27:32-56, Luke 23:26-49, John 19:16-37).
The earthquake when Jesus died (Matthew 27:51-54).
One of the Resurrection appearances (specifically, one that is witnessed by John outdoors, à la Matthew 28:16-20, Luke 24:50, John 21, or Acts 1:4-8).
Previous videos for Light of the World:
The ‘The Heart of Light of the World’ video (October 26, 2024)
The teaser (November 12, 2024)
The clip of Mary talking to John about Jesus’ birth (December 20, 2024)
The children’s-ministry curriculum video (February 10, 2025)
The ‘What Is Truth?’ clip and the ‘Launch Team Introduction’ video (March 26, 2025)
More information about Light of the World is available at LightoftheWorld.com.
Zero A.D. — December 19
Finally, Angel Studios has released a teaser for Zero A.D., an upcoming “thriller” about the Nativity that was originally announced under the working title Bethlehem.
The film is directed by Alejandro Monteverde, whose last two films, Sound of Freedom and Cabrini, were among the biggest hits released by Angel Studios so far.
This one stars:
Deva Cassel — Mary
Jamie Ward (The Last Supper) — Joseph
Gael García Bernal (Coco, The Motorcycle Diaries) — Mary’s father Joachim
Sam Worthington (Avatar, Clash of the Titans, The Shack) — Herod’s son Antipater
Ben Mendelsohn (Rogue One, Exodus: Gods and Kings) — the devil Nahash
And it appears that Jim Caviezel—who played Jesus in The Passion of the Christ and Luke in Paul, Apostle of Christ—is playing King Herod. The studio hasn’t actually stated this yet, but we know Caviezel is in the film, and we know King Herod is in the film, and based on what we see in this trailer, it looks like Caviezel got a heavy makeup job like the one Colin Farrell got when he played the Penguin in The Batman.
I like a lot of the imagery in this teaser, and I am particularly intrigued by the shot of what appears to be Mary bathing in a mikveh.1 But I must quibble with the new title, which is wrong and misleading on two counts:
First, there is no year zero. The calendar goes straight from 1 BC to AD 1—from the last year before Christ’s earthly life to the first year of his earthly life. There is simply no year in which Christ was neither here nor not-yet-here.
But second, even if there was a year zero, most modern historians agree that the 6th-century monk who invented our current dating system miscalculated somewhat, and that Herod the Great died in or around 4 BC. Since the gospels agree that Jesus was born during Herod’s reign (Matthew 2:1, Luke 1:5), it follows that Jesus must have been born no later than 4 BC.
Anyhoo. Zero A.D. is coming to theatres six days before Christmas, on December 19.
Upcoming Bible movies and TV shows:
April 11, 2025 — The Chosen: Last Supper - Part 3 (theatrical: Fathom Events)
April 11, 2025 — The King of Kings (theatrical: Angel Studios)
April 18, 2025 — Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints part 2 (Mary Magdalene episode; streaming: Fox Nation)
Summer 2025 — Testament (streaming: Angel Studios)
September 5, 2025 — Light of the World (theatrical: Salvation Poem Project)
December 19, 2025 — Zero A.D. (theatrical: Angel Studios)
2025 (no month specified) — The Chosen Adventures (streaming)
2025 (no month specified) — The Promised Land season 1 (streaming)
2025 (no month specified) — R&B (streaming: Netflix)
no release date specified — David (theatrical)
no release date specified — Jacob (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)