Animated film ‘The King of Kings’ nearly takes crown at box office in North America

“The King of Kings,” an animated Christian film created by Koreans, made an explosive debut in North America and drew strong praise from audiences and critics alike.Just a day after premiering across 3,200 theaters in the United States and Canada on April 11, the film came in at No. 2 at the U.S. box office and raked in over $7.01 million in ticket sales, according to Box Office Mojo.

For its first week, “The King of Kings” grossed $19.1 million, overtaking the record for an animated biblical film set 27 years ago by “The Prince of Egypt” (1998), which made $14.5 million in its debut.

The film is receiving glowing feedback from moviegoers. It received an “A+” rating from U.S. market research firm CinemaScore, which surveys audience reactions at theater exits. Variety reported that the film’s momentum is expected to grow with Easter Sunday approaching on April 20.

Produced by Korea’s visual effects (VFX) powerhouse Mofac Studios, “The King of Kings” is a 3-D theatrical animation that runs for 101 minutes. Mofac Studios CEO Jang Seong-ho wrote, directed and produced the film, while cinematographer Kim Woo-hyung joined as co-producer. The English voice cast features an array of Hollywood stars, including Kenneth Branagh, Uma Thurman, Mark Hamill, Pierce Brosnan and Oscar Isaac.

CEO Jang is known to be an expert in computer graphics and VFX. He’s worked on the VFX for films such as “Haeundae” (2009) and “Roaring Currents” (2014) and drama series like MBC’s “The Legend” (2007), SBS’s “My Love from the Star” (2013-14) and Starz’ “Spartacus” (2010-13).

In a phone interview with the JoongAng Ilbo, an affiliate of the Korea Daily, on April 14, Jang said that he “wanted to present the story of the Bible in a way that’s accessible to the general audience” and that “it’s rewarding to see that message resonate.”

Although the film was initially known under the tentative title “The Life of Jesus” in Korean during production, it will be released domestically as “The King of Kings.”

The official production budget was 27 billion won ($18.9 million), but an additional 9 billion won was invested during production, bringing the total to around 36 billion won.

There’s intense competition among streaming platforms to acquire the rights for “The King of Kings,” with Jang mentioning that he’s seen offers from Netflix, Apple, Amazon and Hulu.

“We’ll decide on a platform soon,” he said.

“Animation hasn’t really been a part of global K-content, but I’m proud that this film has made a meaningful mark,” Jang continued. “I hope ‘The King of Kings’ helps open the door for more Korean talent in animation to thrive worldwide.”

Q. Why did Mofac, a VFX company, decide to make an animated film?
A. We were confident in our VFX capabilities. We wanted to create something that could make full use of that technology, and animation felt like the right type of media. But with Korea’s limited market, it was difficult to attract investment if we only focused locally. So, we aimed to create content that could be distributed in the North American market.

Why choose a Bible story?
Even Disney started with adaptations like “Snow White” (1937). We looked into which stories were most familiar to North American audiences, which we found to be the story of Jesus more than anything else.

The script was loosely inspired by Charles Dickens’ book “The Life of Our Lord” (1934). As a Christian yourself, why did you choose that story?
Everyone knows the story of Jesus. I couldn’t just retell it in a predictable way. I needed a source that would help make it more engaging. While looking into public domain works, I found that Dickens had written “The Life of Our Lord” for his son. That made me wonder: Why did he write it? I realized that if the life of Jesus was the main plot, then Dickens and his son Walter reconnecting through Jesus was the subplot. I set the storyline to follow young Walter’s perspective so that the audience could naturally immerse themselves in the plot.

You explained that the animation was created using Unreal Engine, a 3-D game engine used by video game developers, which was implemented in a virtual environment with actors playing out the scenes, and edited afterward. Does that mean you shot live-action scenes before animating them? 

Yes. We created a virtual set — lights, props and environments — just like a real film shoot. Actors performed in motion-capture suits, and we filmed it like a live-action production. We then refined those scenes and replaced the avatars with animations.

We didn’t even start animating until the entire virtual production was complete. Since all the data from virtual production is digital, we could reshoot or re-edit at any time. That made the process far more efficient. We even developed our own virtual camera.

Some critics have said the lighting, setting and ambience of the film are beautiful, but the character animation could have been stronger. What is your opinion on that? 

I agree. But given our budget and production environment, we did our best.

You brought in major Hollywood voice actors. How were you able to achieve that?
It was thanks to our veteran casting director Jamie Thomason. From the start, we wanted to break into the Hollywood mainstream, so we reached out to the best. Thomason loved the script and agreed to work with us for one-fifth of his usual fee. He told me he did us a huge favor for “The King of Kings.” (laughs)