A new hit biblical movie has accomplished an amazing feat during its sophomore weekend. Biblical movies have been part of cinema more or less since the beginning of the art form. In Hollywood history, this largely took the form of biblical epics such as 1956’s The Ten Commandments, which was directed by iconic Oscar-winning filmmaker Cecil B. DeMille, and 1959’s Ben-Hur, which is tied with тιтanic and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King as the movie that has won the most Oscars in history with a total of 11, including Best Picture.
In the modern era, there have been fewer major wide-release religious movies at that scale, though the biblical movie has never entirely vanished. In fact, they exhibit a range of genres that is potentially even wider than in the 1950s. While biblical epics still exist, such as the 2014 Darren Aronofsky movie Noah, and the same year’s Ridley Scott movie Exodus: Gods and Kings, other recent biblical movies include the horror-inflected 2004 drama The Pᴀssion of the Christ, the animated comedy The Star, and the musical Journey to Bethlehem.
The King of Kings Is Set For A Record-Setting Sophomore Weekend
The Movie Stars Oscar Isaac As Jesus Christ
The King of Kings has continued its record theatrical run with a new major achievement. The 2025 animated movie, which was written and directed by Seong-ho Jang, is adapted from the Charles Dickens children’s book The Life of Our Lord and follows Dickens himself (Kenneth Branagh) telling the story of the life of Jesus Christ (Oscar Isaac) to his son Walter (Roman Griffin Davis). The King of Kings release kicked off by debuting with $19.4 million and breaking The Prince of Egypt‘s record for the highest-grossing opening weekend for a biblical animated movie.
The voice cast of The King of Kings also includes Uma Thurman as Catherine Dickens, Pierce Brosnan as Pontius Pilate, Ben Kingsley as High Priest Caiaphas, Forest Whitaker as Peter, and Mark Hamill as King Herod.
Per ᴅᴇᴀᴅline, as of Saturday morning, The King of Kings is projected to take in a 3-day total of $17.5 million by the end of its sophomore weekend at the domestic box office, during which it is playing in 3,535 theaters. This will see it have a week-on-week drop of just -9% following its debut. As reflected in the Box Office Mojo, this will see it surpᴀssing 2004’s Meet the Fockers (-9.5%) as the 35th smallest week 2 drop of all time for a saturated wide release playing in 3,000 theaters or more.
Our Take On The King Of Kings’ Sophomore Weekend
The True Measure Of The Movie Will Be Week 3
The sophomore weekend of The King of Kings is a remarkable achievement, putting it among heavy-hitters such as Crazy Rich Asians (-6.4%), Avatar (-1.8%), and The Greatest Showman (+76.3%). However, the likely cause of this narrow drop is the fact that it is Easter weekend, when a biblical movie about Jesus would likely most appeal to its core demographic. The true test of the movie’s box office mettle will likely be its third week. If it continues to have slim drops, that will be more concrete proof that it is performing well on its own merits.
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Source: ᴅᴇᴀᴅline & Box Office Mojo
