Angel Studios' upcoming faith-based film David has broken the crowdfunding record set by The Chosen and is now the largest audience-funded production in history, the studio said Thursday.
The family-friendly animated movie, still in production, has raised $49 million with the goal of reaching its $60 million target by March 31, director Phil Cunningham said Thursday in a Facebook livestream. The goal is for the film to be the most significant biblical animated film since Dreamworks' box office hit Prince of Egypt (1998).
Cunningham told Christian Headlines that he wants the film to reach a broad audience.
"We really believe that David is one of the few biblical stories that can go beyond the traditional faith audience," Cunningham told Christian Headlines. "So we want to make this movie in a way that the Christian audience absolutely loves and is so glad that the story that they love has been told the way that we tell it. But can we also tell the story in a way that is accessible and invites people who wouldn't necessarily be attracted to the Bible very often, and they can come and get something out of it to be challenged and inspired?"
Angel Studios' official Facebook page said David was "now the #1 largest audience-funded production in history, surpassing even The Chosen in investments."
"This is now the largest audience-crowdfunded show in history," said Neal Harmon, CEO of Angel Studios. ".. We're just so excited for what is happening now."
Like Prince of Egypt, it will be a musical.
"David wrote so much music. He was an artist, he was a musician," Cunningham told Christian Headlines. "Integrating music into the story for us is not challenging. It's natural. It almost feels like the only way to tell the story."
The film will be family-friendly, he said. A release date has yet to be announced.
Photo courtesy: ©Angel Studios, used with permission.
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
