For years, Christian films had a reputation problem. The kind that made “faith-based movie” synonymous with low budget, heavy-handed messaging and wooden acting. But lately, something has shifted. Audiences are showing up in theaters. Studios are writing bigger checks. And for the first time in a long time, Christian filmmakers are being taken seriously — not just as evangelists, but as artists.
At the center of this shift is a new class of storytellers who are raising the bar — and bringing faith-based entertainment into a whole new era. Films like Jesus Revolution, Unsung Hero and I Can Only Imagine aren’t just performing well — they’re outperforming expectations, proving that faith-forward stories can thrive on the big screen without sacrificing artistic integrity.
“It’s a wonderful term, the idea of a Christian Renaissance,” filmmaker Jon Erwin told RELEVANT. “That was a time that there was such a fusion of faith and art and leads to things that we still celebrate today.”
Erwin, who co-founded Kingdom Story Company with his brother, Andrew, has been one of the major forces behind this resurgence. Their breakout hit, I Can Only Imagine, grossed more than $83 million domestically. Jesus Revolution followed in 2023 with another $52 million at the U.S. box office. Their films aren’t just commercially viable — they’re also setting new standards for what Christian cinema can look like.
“I don’t watch [my films] for a very long time,” Erwin said. “But I can go back and watch them and say, at that point in my career, I left it all on the field. That was the very best I could do at that point. And I’ve gotten better, I hope.”
That kind of steady growth — in both skill and scale — is what has allowed Erwin to take on larger projects, like the recently launched House of David series with Amazon. But he’s quick to point out that it wouldn’t have been possible without the financial and cultural success of his previous films.
“These things have worked,” he said. “They’ve made money. And when that happens, we get to level up each time.”
He’s not alone. His brother, Andrew Erwin, recently co-produced Unsung Hero, the acclaimed biopic from For King & Country, and Brent McCorkle — who co-wrote Jesus Revolution — also helped create Unbreakable Boy. Together, this creative circle has helped redefine what modern Christian movies can be: emotionally resonant, visually compelling and spiritually rich without being preachy.
Then there’s The Chosen. Though it started as a streaming series, it has had a staggering theatrical impact. Over the last three years, The Chosen has grossed nearly $140 million in global box office revenue — including $60 million in 2025 alone. That kind of success would have sounded unthinkable a decade ago, but now it’s part of a larger trend: Christians showing up at the theater for stories that reflect their faith — and are actually well made.
Creator Dallas Jenkins, who launched 5&2 Studios to expand his storytelling universe, said the key to every project is humanizing these ancient stories.
“We want to make sure that every Bible story that we ever tell comes from the same approach: we’re going to find the humanity in this story so that you can see yourself in it,” Jenkins told RELEVANT. “Even the Old Testament stories that we’re telling are about Jesus. They’re pointing you toward Jesus.”
He’s currently developing a miniseries on the life of Joseph — a strategic bridge between the Gospels and the law.
“Doing Joseph and then Moses is the perfect structure,” he said. “Moses is the response to the Joseph story.”
But it’s not just the content that’s evolving — it’s the creative community behind it.
“There’s this group of filmmakers that are collaborating together,” Erwin said. “My brother and I, Dallas Jenkins, John Gunn, Brent McCorkle … we’re all really trying to will each other on to success.”
It’s working. From indie breakouts to studio-backed features, Christian films are reaching broader audiences with higher production value — and higher expectations. And Hollywood is starting to catch up.
“They really wanted it to be authentic, and they wanted to give the reins to people who understood the audience the best,” Erwin said of Amazon’s interest in faith-based stories. “It was really an unprecedented deal, but that’s based off the unprecedented success of the movies we’ve made and things like ‘The Chosen.’”
The Christian film boom isn’t just real — it’s redefining what faith and art can look like when they’re taken seriously. And if the recent box office numbers are any indication, it’s just getting started.
Title: The Christian Film Boom Is Officially Here
URL: https://relevantmagazine.com/culture/movies/the-christian-film-boom-is-officially-here/
Source: REL ::: RELEVANT
Source URL: http://www.relevantmagazine.com/rss/relevantmagazine.xml
Date: May 22, 2025 at 07:38PM
Feedly Board(s): Religion