Lionsgate acquires worldwide distribution rights to Dallas Jenkins’ ‘The Chosen’

Hollywood production house and streaming giant Lionsgate has acquired global sub-licensing distribution rights for Dallas Jenkins’ ‘The Chosen’, the widely popular crowdfunded series about the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth.

The Come and See Foundation through which the series was made possible will maintain full licensing rights for all the show’s non-profit initiatives, which includes translation. As the show also premieres in theaters, the foundation will holds those rights as well, including all rights to the Angel Studios app and ‘The Chosen’ app and will continue to for all future productions.

Angel Studios, the studio that produced ‘The Chosen’ has perpetual rights and exclusive perpetual rights to NFTs, as per Deadline.

The Lionsgate distribution rights acquisition

With three seasons available so far, Lionsgate has successfully acquired all of them — and will likely continue to distribute all future seasons of the show, as Jenkins is only about half finished telling the complex story.

Jenkins and Jim Packer, Lionsgate President of Worldwide Television Distribution, each made statements about the acquisition.

Jenkins said the backing from Lionsgate fit “perfectly” into the vision he has for the show, right down to the details.

“They’re strong and experienced in the areas we’re not, but they also understand what’s unique about us and will protect that,” Jenkins said. “We’ll continue to do what we do best unabated, and they’ll expand our efforts with their tremendous distribution team.”

Packer expressed his passion for joining the popular project.

“The more I learned about ‘The Chosen’, the more I wanted to ensure that it is on the best platforms across the globe,” the Lionsgate president said. “It’s no surprise that an artfully crafted story about such an important historical figure, unlike anything done before, would be in great demand.”

A global Jesus binge

Jenkins wanted to make a “bingeable show about Jesus”. The show has become the most successful crowdfunded television series in history.

With upwards of 536 million views as per the live count on Angel Studio’s app alone, not considering views accumulated through other platforms where it is available, and streams in over 175 countries, Jenkins and his team have had a long-term vision of making the show available in 600 languages since the beginning.

The series portrays the Jesus story according to the gospels and historical documentation from the perspective of Jesus himself, as well as the disciples, religious leaders who wanted to kill him, and the Roman soldiers oppressing the Jewsih people in first-century Israel.

‘The Chosen’ carefully weaves the biblical narratives into a fleshed out story where the disciples and others take on a full character for viewers to relate to.