“The Chosen” takes Christmas special to cinemas and breaks records 

The Christian tv show depicting the life of Jesus Christ, “The Chosen,” is releasing a special Christmas episode about the birth of Jesus seen from Mary and Joseph’s perspective.

The episode, entitled “Christmas with The Chosen: The Messengers,” will premiere in cinemas across the United States, and even though it will only be released on December 1^st, ticket sales have already broken records.

In the first 12 hours of sales, the episode had grossed $1.5 million.

The special episode, which lasts two hours, was originally scheduled to be released in 1,079 theaters, but more than 450 additional cinemas have already been added.

“’Christmas with The Chosen: The Messengers’ will be the Christmas event of 2021, and we are elated to bring it to the big screen so it may be seen by audiences nationwide,” Ray Nutt, CEO of the distributor, Fathom Events, said.

Music from top gospel and Christian artists

As the team behind “The Chosen” came up with the idea of doing a Christmas special, they had no doubt it had to premiere in cinemas.

“When we decided to do a special Christmas episode, we knew it would be the ideal moment to get this on the big screen. It is the first chance ‘The Chosen’ fans have had to gather all over the country, so we intend to make it worth it. And with all the incredible musicians assembled, this is a perfect event for inviting friends,” director, Dallas Jenkins, said.

As he implied, the episode features music from some of gospel and Christian music’s biggest names, such as Jordan Feliz, For King & Country, Brandon Lake, Maverick City Music, Phil Wickham, We the Kingdom, Dawson Hollow, Matt Maher, Cain, Leanna Crawford, the Bonner Family, Bryan and Katie Torwalt and One Voice Children’s Choir.

More than 100 million views for “The Chosen”

Two seasons have been produced of “The Chosen” so far, and the series has been translated into 50 languages.

Originally, “The Chosen” was produced for the streaming website VidAngel and has been shown there since 2019, but since then, it moved to tv on the Trinity Broadcasting Network.

“We are thrilled to bring this television series to Trinity Broadcasting Network and allow our viewers to experience Jesus in a way that has never been done before,” Chairman of the network, Matt Crouch, told The Christian Post at the beginning of the year.

“The Chosen” passed more than 100 million views in the spring of 2021.

The idea of “The Chosen” was developed after Dallas Jenkins made the short film “The Shepard,” which VidAngel put on Facebook. “The Shepard” got more than 15 million views from all over the world.

Dallas Jenkins, VidAngel and video marketing strategist Derral Eves turned to crowdfunding to raise money for the production of “The Chosen,” and in January 2019, the show had raised more than $10.2 million from over 16,000 investors.

The many millions of dollars have made the first season of “The Chosen” the highest crowd-funded tv series or film ever.