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August 13, 2025
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Based on a bevy of metrics — box office, online streaming performance and audience surveys — 2025 has thus far been a banner year for Christian film and television content.
Light of the World, a 2-D animated film about the life of Jesus Christ told through the eyes of John the Apostle which will be released Sept. 5, will seek to maintain this positive momentum for faith-based cinematic storytelling.
Co-director John J. Schafer said a key reason audiences — of believers and non-believers alike — are gravitating to recent titles like The Chosen, King of Kings and House of David is the premium the filmmakers behind these projects are placing on visual panache.
Schafer said for many years there was a stereotype that faith-based films “were low quality and cheesy,” but contemporary creators are transcending that perception.
“All the faith-based filmmakers have really raised their game,” said Schafer. “We live in a world where it’s no longer turning the dial on a television set. It is sliding (your finger). You have to grab someone’s attention for a theatrical release trailer in milliseconds.”
Schafer, his co-director, Tom Bancroft, Tony Bancroft, Tom’s brother, the animation director, and the rest of the creative team behind Light of the World have opted to draw people to cineplexes with classic hand-drawn 2D animation reminiscent of the acclaimed motion pictures released during the Disney Renaissance (1989-1999). The Bancroft brothers contributed to the animated films Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, Pocahontas, Mulan and Tarzan. Tony also directed Mulan.
There was an apparent thoughtful intention behind the decision to go with 2D. An excerpt on the official website for Light of the World reads: “Hand-drawn animation is a timeless medium that retains its beauty over many decades. It contains all the subtle flaws we’ve come to call ‘human.’ To us, it’s a fitting way to express our love and adoration to Jesus — the only unflawed person to ever walk the Earth.”
It appears the traditional, nostalgia-evoking approach is resonating with test audiences across the United States and at a major screening in Istanbul, Turkey, for over 100 faith-based ministries from over 70 countries.
“I think everyone was really surprised (by how) we’re kind of back in that ’90s era and just how strongly heartfelt and funny (it is), but also how it is such a ministry tool,” said Schafer.
The veteran filmmaker with over three decades of experience — including producing the animated children’s series Superbook on the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) for many years — added that Salvation Poem Project, the creative studio producing Light of the World, always sought for it to become an evangelizing tool.
Schafer's wife Rebekah, an executive producer on the project, said the film “took my breath away” when she screened it for family in Virginia earlier this summer. She is excited for the film's premiere, not only because of her faith in the quality of the movie, but also because it appears to be blessed with auspicious timing.
“This is a time when people are hungry,” she said. “And with everything going on in the world, they’re searching. It's a time where they're searching in the right place, and we have a very unique opportunity here to give them the truth in a way that's fun, inviting and non-threatening.
“This is a critical moment to be a voice that people will listen to and that will hopefully spark more hunger, and they'll start to continue their journey to search for Him.”
Concurring with his wife, Schafer added that “people have looked (elsewhere), and they've seen it fail on them.”
Ticket sales opened for Light of the World on Aug. 13. In April, King of Kings, another animated film about the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, broke the 27-year-old record held by Prince of Egypt for the best opening weekend domestic box office haul for a faith-based animated movie. Light of the World will need to gross more than $19.3 million to set a new benchmark.
Visit https://lightoftheworld.com/ to learn more. One notable interesting fact: all the principal voice actors are Canadian.
(Amundson is an associate editor and writer for The Catholic Register.)
A version of this story appeared in the August 24, 2025, issue of The Catholic Registerwith the headline "Faith-based films on the upswing".
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