Angel Studios will appeal a recent arbitrator’s ruling terminating its relationship with the producers of the hit Christian TV series “The Chosen” as Season 4 is set to stream on its own app starting June 2.
“The team at Angel Studios is honored to have been instrumental in the founding and unbelievable growth of ‘The Chosen.’ Our long hours of hard work over the last eight years by teams of programmers, marketers, translators, licensing experts and innovators have helped it become the worldwide success that it is today,” Angel Studios CEO Neal Harmon said in a statement.
“Sadly, The Chosen, Inc. chose to terminate its agreement with us. We hope that one day the agreement will be restored — and we plan to pursue the appeal provision that Angel and The Chosen agreed to as the process for resolving disagreements privately,” the statement continued.
Along with last year’s indie hit “Sound of Freedom,” “The Chosen” has been one of the most successful projects associated with Angel Studios, recounting the life and teachings of Jesus Christ as told in the Gospel. Originally created in 2017 by showrunner Dallas Jenkins and financed through Angel Studios’ crowdfunding system, the show first streamed on apps run by both Angel Studios and the show’s own self-run app.
After Season 2, “The Chosen” went to theaters with “Christmas With The Chosen,” a theatrical special distributed by Fathom Events that grossed $13.7 million in December 2021 and cracked the Top 5 on the box office charts. Episodes of Seasons 3 and 4 of “The Chosen” have also been distributed in theaters by Fathom, and to date, the show has grossed nearly $60 million in theaters. The show also secured broadcasting on TV networks, including The CW.
But while “The Chosen” has already screened its entire fourth season in theaters, a release on other platforms has been on hold due to arbitration over the rights between the producers of the show and Angel Studios.
In a video statement, Jenkins said that while he was grateful to Angel Studios for helping make “The Chosen” possible, he claimed that only 40% of the money crowdfunded by Angel for the show went into production while the rest was used for marketing by the distributor.
Jenkins further noted that his production company, The Chosen, LLC, was “solely responsible for the financing of future seasons” and believed it was necessary to end the partnership with Angel Studios to keep the show going.
“‘The Chosen’s’ relationship with Angel Studios is effectively over. We take no pleasure in this. I want to thank Angel and the Harmon brothers for their extraordinary efforts in helping launch this show, but we came to the conclusion that we simply had no choice for the future of our company and our show. And the law agreed.”
In its statement, Angel Studios argued that it has sent $115 million in royalties to The Chosen, LLC and cited its efforts to screen the film theatrically and to make distribution deals in 27 countries as proof of its continued effort to invest in the future of “The Chosen.”
While Angel Studios’ appeal moves forward and Season 4 of “The Chosen” hits streaming, production is already underway on a fifth season, which will recount the most famous moments of the Gospel, including the Last Supper and Jesus’ crucifixion.
