Christian film and television content has been produced for decades but its success has varied. Many of these projects were low-budget or too niche to garner a larger audience. That’s not the case this week.
The Chosen: The Last Supper is an outlier in the Christian media world. Despite having an atypical path to the big screen, the television series (yes, TV series) is having the first two episodes of its fifth season arrive in U.S. theaters on March 28, 2025.
The highly-anticipated new season has top prediction platform Polymarket creating a market for the first part’s opening weekend box office performance, which it currently forecasts at more than $8 million.
Here’s what you need to know before betting about The Chosen: The Last Supper.
What is ‘The Chosen: The Last Supper’?
The Chosen is a historical drama about Jesus. Director/creator/writer Dallas Jenkins wanted to create a historically accurate, high-budget TV series chronicling Jesus’ life. Jenkins’s writing was inspired by iconic television shows like Friday Night Lights and The Wire.
The Chosen is a groundbreaking historical drama based on the life of Jesus Christ (Jonathan Roumie), seen through the eyes of those who knew him. Set against the backdrop of Roman oppression in first-century Israel, the seven-season show shares an authentic and intimate look at Jesus’ revolutionary life and teachings.
The Chosen’s production journey is far from normal. Streaming platforms VidAngel and Jenkins launched a crowdfunding campaign. The first fundraising round raised more than $11 million, making it the top crowd-funded TV project ever.
Jenkins was able to create the show with these funds and has been able to crowd-fund every season since. They are able to raise additional money thanks to licensing deals with other streamers.
For season two, the producers decided to create a Christmas special Christmas with The Chosen: The Messengers and brought it to movie theaters. The movie performed exceptionally well at the box office with a $13.5 million gross.
After the first special’s impressive performance, they brought future projects from various seasons to the theaters as well. The Chosen: The Last Supper will be the fifth season divided into three movies:
Part 1 (Episodes 1 and 2) — March 28 – Apr. 20, 2025
Part 2 (Episodes 3, 4, and 5) — Apr. 4-20, 2025
Part 3 (Episodes 6, 7, and 8) — Apr. 11-20, 2025
After the films’ releases, Amazon Prime will be acquiring all five seasons exclusively. The fifth season is supposed to arrive on the streamer sometime in June 2025.
Box office performance of past The Chosen projects
The Chosen has had seven movies released in theaters. But how did they perform at the box office on their opening weekend?
Movie | Opening Weekend Box Office |
Christmas with the Chosen: The Messengers (2021) | $4,245,000 |
The Chosen Season 3: Episode 1 & 2 (2022) | $8,772,746 |
The Chosen Season 3 Finale (2023) | $3,623,742 |
Christmas with the Chosen: Holy Night (2023) | $2,932,000 |
The Chosen: S4 Episodes 1-3 (2024) | $5,949,435 |
The Chosen: S4 Episodes 4-6 (2024) | $3,622,287 |
The Chosen: S4 Episodes 7-8 (2024) | $3,286,746 |
The films have a fairly wide range of opening weekend box office grosses – from $2.9 million to $8.7 million. This range of grosses crosses four different categories in the Polymarket market.
The average opening weekend box office gross for these seven films is 4.6 million. But will season five perform similarly?
Remember that outside factors like increased costs/inflation can affect the willingness of audiences to go to the movies. On the other hand, in tumultuous times, this is exactly when people reach out for faith-based content.
Anything @thechosentv related will never not make me a bit emotional. Especially hearing how much the show has impacted people. The Last Supper premiere did not disappoint. Good to see everyone in the house. #thechosen pic.twitter.com/3goaiMDQO4
— UrbanNoizeRmx (@UrbanNoize2) March 21, 2025
Early reactions show the niche audience’s ongoing enthusiasm. Like season four, the fifth season is split into three parts. The first film of season four was the highest grosser, suggesting this season’s first film could reach at least six million dollars.
