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Charlie Kirk is the Founder and President of Turning Point USA, the largest and fastest growing conservative youth activist organization in the country with over 250,000 student members, over 150 full-time staff, and a presence on over 2,000 high school and college campuses nationwide. Charlie is also the Chairman of Students for Trump, which aims to activate one million new college voters on campuses in battleground states in the lead up to the 2020 presidential election. His social media reaches over 100 million people per month and according to Axios, he is one of the "top 10 most engaged" Twitter handles in the world. He is also the host of “The Charlie Kirk Show,” which regularly ranks among the top news shows on Apple podcast charts.
Jeffrey Harmon Reveals How King of Kings Broke Box Office Records for Biblical Animation
Jeffrey Harmon, co-founder and CCO of Angel Studios, discusses the extraordinary success of King of Kings, a biblical animated film that secured the number two spot at the box office with $19.3 million in its opening weekend. Based on Charles Dickens' book written for his children and unpublished until 65 years after his death, the film tells the story of Jesus Christ through the eyes of a young child. Harmon explains how the South Korean Christian filmmakers at Mofax Studios used motion capture technology and recruited A-list voice talent including Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kingsley, and Uma Thurman. The film earned a rare A+ CinemaScore and a 97% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes, marking a significant cultural shift in how biblical content is received by mainstream audiences during Holy Week.
King of Kings exploded onto the box office scene, claiming the number two position with $19.3 million over its opening weekend—just $400,000 less than Sound of Freedom earned in its first three days. Jeffrey Harmon, co-founder and Chief Creative Officer of Angel Studios, shared the remarkable achievement during an interview about the film's success. Forbes reported that the film landed one of the best audience scores in history, with a 97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and an A+ CinemaScore—a distinction achieved only 128 times in movie history and only five times for animated films outside of Disney and Pixar.
The film beat Prince of Egypt's record for the biggest biblical animated box office opening of all time, a record that had stood for over two decades. The enthusiastic audience response extended beyond ratings, with Harmon witnessing children spontaneously dancing in front of the theater screen during the credits—a testament to the film's ability to captivate young viewers.
Charles Dickens' Hidden Treasure for Children
King of Kings is based on a book Charles Dickens wrote for his children that remained unpublished until 65 years after his death. The story presents the life of Jesus Christ from the perspective of a young child, with Dickens explaining the gospel narrative in a way accessible to children. This unique approach creates an engaging entry point for families to explore biblical stories together.
The film's narrative framework centers on forgiveness and positions Jesus as the ultimate King—the King of Kings. By framing the story through a child's curiosity and wonder, the filmmakers created content that resonates with both young audiences and their parents.
South Korean Christian Filmmakers and Motion Capture Innovation
The creative team behind King of Kings comes from Mofax Studios, a South Korean Christian filmmaking group that has worked extensively with major studios over the years. The director, who doesn't even speak English, created the film as a passion project, recruiting exceptional talent to bring his vision to life.
The production utilized motion capture technology, a process that captures real people's movements and expressions to create more lifelike animation while reducing production costs. Harmon emphasized that this technique allowed the filmmakers to create stunning visuals, highlighting scenes like Jesus walking on water as examples of the film's gorgeous cinematography. The motion capture approach sits somewhere between traditional animation and live-action, creating a distinctive visual style that sets the film apart.
A-List Voice Talent Brings the Story to Life
King of Kings assembled an impressive cast of voice actors, including Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kingsley, and Uma Thurman. This caliber of talent elevated the production and demonstrated the project's ability to attract top-tier performers to faith-based content. The combination of skilled voice acting, beautiful cinematography, and compelling storytelling created an experience that audiences found deeply satisfying.
The Angel Guild: Democratizing Hollywood's Gatekeeping
Angel Studios operates through a unique model called the Angel Guild, a group of over one million people who greenlight every film that comes to the platform. Harmon explained that this structure addresses what he sees as fundamental brokenness in Hollywood—a system where a couple dozen gatekeepers make all the decisions about which movies get made and distributed.
The Angel Guild gave King of Kings one of the highest scores the platform has seen: a 95. As co-founder, Harmon himself cannot bring a movie to Angel Studios unless it first passes the Angel Guild's approval. Guild members get to vote on every movie, provide feedback directly to directors who read and respond to their comments, and sometimes get early access to films months before public release.
Members of the Angel Guild receive two movie tickets to every Angel Studios theatrical release, including King of Kings. This model creates a community-driven approach to content curation that represents the values of families and middle America rather than Hollywood executives.
Angel Studios' Growing Library of Family Content
Beyond theatrical releases, Angel Studios has developed an extensive library of content for families. The Tuttle Twins series follows two twins and their grandmother Gabby, who has a time-traveling interdimensional wheelchair. The comedy animated series takes children on adventures where they meet historical figures like Benjamin Franklin and George Washington, and even Karl Marx, teaching kids about different political and economic systems in an accessible way.
The platform also houses Sound of Freedom, the Homestead series starring Neal McDonough that launched at Christmas, and The Wing Feather Saga—a fantasy series based on Andrew Peterson's bestselling book. New movies and series are released every week, creating a continuously growing library of content that passes the Angel Guild's quality threshold.
Angel Studios also released the first three seasons of The Chosen, the groundbreaking series about the life of Jesus. Harmon recalled the early days when he had to practically force people to watch the show at Sunday dinners, only to have them love it once they gave it a chance. The cultural shift since then has been dramatic, with biblical content now attracting mainstream audiences without the resistance that characterized earlier efforts.
A Cultural Shift in How Biblical Content Is Received
Harmon noted a definite cultural shift in how audiences receive faith-based content. A couple of years ago, Angel Studios released His Only Son, which tells the story of Abraham, during Easter. The contrast between the reception then and the overwhelming success of King of Kings now reveals changing attitudes toward biblical storytelling.
Unlike previous faith-based releases that might have faced protests or walkoffs, King of Kings was embraced by mass audiences. The film's success during Holy Week demonstrates that there is substantial appetite for high-quality biblical content presented in accessible formats. This shift suggests that the culture is becoming more receptive to gospel messages in mainstream entertainment.
Call to Action: Joining the Movement
Harmon emphasized that joining the Angel Guild at angel.com/kirk provides immediate benefits and long-term influence. Members receive two free movie tickets to King of Kings and every other Angel Studios theatrical release. More importantly, they gain the power to shape the culture by voting on which films get greenlit, providing feedback that directors actually read and respond to, and participating in a community of over one million people committed to creating content aligned with their values.
The model represents a fundamental reimagining of how entertainment gets made and distributed—shifting power from a small group of Hollywood gatekeepers to families across America who want content that reflects their beliefs and values for their children.
