Angel Studios Believes Its David and Goliath Animated Musical Will Be Bigger Than ‘The Lion King’

Brian Welk
·3 min read
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Last year, Angel Studios opened a booth at CinemaCon in Last Vegas to launch its distribution arm. That paid off handsomely after “Sound of Freedom” exploded to a $250 million worldwide gross. This year, they took to a much bigger stage for a Caesar’s Palace breakfast presentation and announced its intention to stun the industry again.

The Angel headliner was “David,” an animated musical based on the Biblical story of David vs. Goliath. Or, as the studio’s chief marketing officer Alex Nielsen told the audience: “We intend to release the most successful animated film of all time.” (The current record holder is “The Lion King,” which grossed nearly $1.7 billion in 2019.)

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Angel dated “David” for Thanksgiving weekend 2025, but it presented a full trailer and a full song to a packed, standing-room only house inside the Palace Ballroom. The trailer also touted that former NFL quarterback Tim Tebow is an executive producer on the project.

“David” is a spinoff of Angel’s animated mini-series “Young David,” which launched on its internal streaming platform available to Angel Guild members last November. The series focuses on David’s life as a young shepherd boy before he became a king.

Angel Studios also took a victory lap on behalf of “Sound of Freedom” and talked up both Angel Guild and its pay-it-forward models as ways to get new audiences into theaters. However, the two new films it teased for 2025 did not include a “Sound of Freedom 2.”

It screened trailers for “Sight,” which opens May 24 for Memorial Day weekend. Starring Terry Chen and Greg Kinnear, it’s based on the true story of a Chinese immigrant who became a renowned eye surgeon who tries to restore the sight of a blind orphan. Tickets for “Sight” are now on sale and are “going strong,” according to Angel.

“Possum Trot,” which has the “Sound of Freedom” date of July 4, is about the Bennett Chapel church in the East Texas town of Possum Trot and the work done by Bishop and First Lady Donna Martin in helping kids in child welfare services. The trailer leaned heavily on the “Sound of Freedom” messages about child trafficking and abuse. “Black Panther” star Letitia Wright is an executive producer and it stars “Euphoria” actress Nika King.

Opening over Thanksgiving week”Bonhoeffer,” which is based on the true story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a man who preached love while he attempted to assassinate Hitler. Over Christmas is another action thriller, “Homestead,” described as a “post-apocalyptic family survival drama.”

Angel’s 2025 slate but announced without details were “Jacob” and “Young Washington.”

Angel opened its presentation with the reminder that it was the No. 8 domestic theatrical distributor for 2023. “It’s not our team that greenlights a theatrical release, it’s the audience,” said Jared Geesey, Angel’s head of distribution. “We believe in the wisdom of the crowd. It redefines the relationship between filmmakers and fans.”

Brandon Purdie, Angel’s executive VP and head of global theatrical distribution, previously told IndieWire he doesn’t believe any of the films on the 2024 slate are strictly “faith-based” in the narrowest sense, even though members of the Angel Guild are largely “faith-friendly,” and all the films are designed to “amplify light.” The Biblical “David” is certainly an exception.

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