Many readers have undoubtedly felt the phenomenon building for years. Even if you personally walked with Jesus Christ, you knew that Western culture, by and large, had abandoned Him. People placed their faith in something ghastly, like “The Science” or, worse yet, themselves.
Suddenly, millions of narcissists, empty inside yet convinced of their own importance, took to the streets and the airwaves. They made claims, voiced demands, and committed acts that, to the vast majority of people simply trying to live their lives in peace while navigating this fallen world, looked and sounded as if they had drawn inspiration from the depths of hell. As a result, many who comprise the majority have either discovered or reaffirmed their need for Jesus.
All of this helps explain why, according to the box-office news and data website The Numbers, Part 1 of “The Chosen: The Last Supper,” the fifth season of director Dallas Jenkins’ blockbuster Biblical drama, maintained its momentum on Wednesday by surging past “Snow White,” Disney’s latest woke theatrical stink bomb, into second place overall with a daily gross of $965,414.
For comparison’s sake, “The Chosen” only appeared in 1,644 theaters nationwide. That gave it a per-theater average gross of $587. “Snow White,” meanwhile, polluted 4,200 theaters for a per-theater gross of $203.
As of Tuesday, “Snow White” had still clung to the #2 spot, with “The Chosen” in third place.
Industry analysts, of course, might argue over why “Snow White” has failed to meet box-office expectations. But those closest to the situation, including the son of its producer, have blamed lousy public relations brought on by the film’s woke young star, actress Rachel Zegler.
The truly joyful aspect of this story, however, belongs to “The Chosen.”
WARNING: The following paragraphs feature mild spoilers.
Since its debut in 2017, Jenkins’ Biblical drama has followed Jesus (Jonathan Roumie), his 12 Apostles, and others, including — most prominently — Mary Magdalene (Elizabeth Tabish), who appears as a young child in the series’ opening-scene flashback, and who, to a much greater extent than any of the Apostles, seems to understand not only Jesus’ message of love and forgiveness, but also His call to humility and repentance, as well as His crypic-yet-frequent warnings about what will eventually happen to Him.
The presentation of Jesus’ story through His followers’ eyes constitutes one novel element of the series. So does the fleshing out of their imagined backstories.
All of this takes place, however, within an authentic Biblical framework. Roumie speaks Jesus’ words from the New Testament. And the actor does so with such an uncommon mixture of gentleness and passion that he seems, literally, chosen by God for this role.
Indeed, Jesus’ initial appearance on screen during season 1 ranked among my personal favorites for what it revealed about the beauty of Christianity, as I indicated here.
All of this helps explain why audiences have flocked to the series and why its popularity has continued to grow.
For instance, according to the Utah-based Deseret News, the series has already shattered its own theatrical benchmarks.
“The Chosen: Last Supper, ” part one, enjoyed an opening weekend of $11.4 million in ticket sales. That figure nearly doubled the opening weekend sales for “The Chosen Season 4: Episodes 1 -3” (2024), which took in $5.9 million.
Keep in mind that each theatrical presentation features multiple episodes that eventually will come available for streaming. Thus, those who happen to miss the first installment of “The Chosen: Last Supper,” which includes season 5, episodes 1 and 2, will undoubtedly choose to wait for the streaming episodes rather than watch episodes 3 through 5 in theaters. This may lead to a dip in ticket sales as the theatrical releases roll out.
Those middle episodes, 3 through 5, will debut in theaters Friday. Then the final three episodes, 6 through 8, will hit theaters April 11.
Like all good things, the success of “The Chosen” should strike us as divinely ordained. After all, the series began as a crowdfunded project. It streamed for free on “The Chosen” app, which it will eventually do again. Now, it has emerged as a box-office juggernaut and global phenomenon.
Meanwhile, audiences have increasingly rejected Hollywood wokeness. That includes not only “Snow White” but other recent duds, such as Marvel Studios’ “Captain America: Brave New World.”
In short, Hollywood has bludgeoned moviegoers with narcissism-laden and atheism-inspired wokeness. We have felt the bludgeoning for so long that it sometimes seemed inescapable.
But we have also felt the anti-woke revolution, in particular the Christian revival, building in our culture. The success of “The Chosen: Last Supper” shows that the revival continues.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
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