The King of Kings (2025): A Korean, Animated, Jesus Movie

It's a busy time of year for Bible films and this is even more true this year than normal. One that has caught my eye is the animated film The King of Kings which will be in cinemas from the 11th April 2025 (in the UK, the USA, Ireland and Canada at least).

In many English-speaking parts of the world it's being distributed by Angel Studios (who were involved in the early stages of The Chosen) but it was actually produced by the Mofac company from South Korea and its director/writer Seong-ho Jang is also from South Korea, as is, I believe, cinematographer Woo-hyung Kim.

This is exciting for me because when I was writing "100 Bible Films" I had really hoped to include a Korean Bible film as I know there is a strong Christian Community over there, but I wasn't able to track one down. This was a shame because a key part of what I tried to do with that book was cover cinematic version of the Bible from around the world not just America and Europe.

Anyway, I'm hoping to get the chance to interview Seong-ho Jang in due course.

The English language version of the film has a stellar cast, Oscar Isaac as Jesus, Pierce Brosnan (Pontius Pilate), Mark Hamill (Herod), Ben Kingsley (Caiaphas), Forest Whitaker (Peter) as well as some great voice actors such as Jim Cummings and James Arnold Taylor in multiple roles. 

Two other big stars rounding out the cast are Kenneth Branagh and Uma Thurman playing Charles Dickens and his wife Catherine. If that causes you to do a double take then allow me to clear things up! The movie is actually an adaptation of Dickens private retelling of the life of Christ "The Life of Our Lord" and if frames the subject with footage of Charles and Catherine as they tell the story to their son Walter (Roman Griffin Davis). The story was only published in 1934 after not only Dickens but also the last of his children had died. It's an interesting approach and I'm looking forward to reviewing it in due course. I'm also hoping to share an interview with James Arnold Taylor who plays at least six characters in the film including the 12-year old Jesus and a quarter of the disciples.