The King of Kings, Starring Oscar Isaac as Jesus, Breaks a Box Office Record Set by 1998’s Prince of Egypt

The King of Kings, an religious animated movie backed by the studio behind Sound of Freedom, broke a decades-old box office record set by The Prince of Egypt.

Starring Oscar Isaac as the voice of Jesus Christ, The King of Kings earned an estimated $19 million over its opening weekend, according to Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter.

That put the independent film at second place at the domestic box office — behind the blockbuster A Minecraft Movie — outdoing major new releases like The Amateur and Drop.

Per Variety, The King of Kings beat the opening weekend box office record for animated faith-based movies that was established by The Prince of Egypt, which debuted to $14.5 million back in 1998.

The King of Kings is based on Charles Dickens’ The Life of Our Lord and, reads an official synopsis, “invites us to rediscover the enduring power of hope, love and redemption through the eyes of a child.”

The movie, directed by Seong-Ho Jang, also stars Pierce Brosnan as Pontius Pilate, Mark Hamill as King Herod, Ben Kingsley as High Priest Caiaphas, Forest Whitaker as Peter, Kenneth Branagh as Charles Dickens, and Uma Thurman as Catherine Dickens.

Angel Studios distributed The King of Kings, the company that also released 2023’s Sound of Freedom, a controversial crime-thriller about human trafficking that starred Jim Caviezel and became a surprise box office success.

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Jordan Harmon, president of Angel Studios, told Variety that The King of Kings is “really The Passion for kids. We did an early screening, and I watched multiple kids walk out with tears on their face. … I truly believe this film has the potential to bless millions of kids’ lives where this becomes, for lack of a better term, a core memory.”

Harmon added to the outlet that the film fulfills a “pent-up demand” for faith-based animated films.

DreamWorks Animation’s The Prince of Egypt starred Val Kilmer as Moses, plus a star-studded voice cast that featured Ralph Fiennes, Steve Martin, Martin Short, Sandra Bullock, Michelle Pfeiffer, Jeff Goldblum, Danny Glover, Helen Mirren and Patrick Stewart. Stephen Schwartz, also behind Wicked‘s music, won an Oscar for Best Original Song.