The movie studio behind last year's surprise blockbuster Sound of Freedom has spoken out after a parting of ways with the company behind one of its most successful shows.
Angel Studios is a major Christian producer of films and television shows. It came to prominence in Hollywood for its maverick approach to fundraising and marketing. As a result, Sound of Freedom—an independent movie about child trafficking—became the 10th highest grossing movie of 2023, even topping major blockbusters such as Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One.
But now it is wrapped up in a legal battle with the company behind one of its most successful TV shows. The Chosen is a series about the life of Jesus Christ, and according to Angel Studios has been watched by more than 106 million people around the world.
Trouble began brewing between the show's creator, Dallas Jenkins, his company Chosen Inc. and Angel Studios in 2023 when Chosen accused Angel of a breach of contract.
In March this year Jenkins took to YouTube to tell fans the fourth season of The Chosen has been delayed due to "legal matters." On Thursday he returned to the video platform to announce Chosen had parted ways with Angel Studios.
The Chosen is available to watch on its website and app, with certain seasons streaming on Netflix, Amazon Prime and Peaco*ck.
The dispute was regarding profit distribution after the two parties decided to remove The Chosen from behind a paywall so people could watch for free. In order to generate revenue once the paywall was removed, they agreed to use Angel's pioneering "pay it forward" system. That system allows people to buy tickets or passes to a show or movie for other people.
But Jenkins accused Angel of breaching their contract when it did not hand over what he considered to be a fair portion of the profit.
"This became even more true when, after charging you to watch the show didn't work, we decided the show should be free, and Angel came up with the pay-it-forward model where you can choose to pay for the show for yourself and others so it could be free around the world," he said in the video. "Of your pay-it-forward contributions, less than half of it actually came to us, somewhere around 40 percent. The rest went to marketing and Angel Studios."
Angel Studios claimed in a statement to Newsweek that it had forwarded a little more $115.9 million in royalties to Chosen Inc.
Neal Harmon, founder and CEO of Angel Studios, reacted to Chosen Inc's decision to severe their relationship.
"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 8 years by teams of programmers, marketers, translators, licensing experts, and innovators have helped it become the worldwide success that it is today," he told Newsweek.
"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."
Jenkins said Chosen Inc funded its own production costs, staffing and other overheads not from the royalties it received from Angel Studios, but from The Chosen merchandise and gift sales on its website, with the cost of production increasing with every new season.
Angel Studios has claimed in a separate lawsuit from 2022 that it expected to collect as much as $2.6 billion from the planned seven seasons of the The Chosen.
That lawsuit related to former Angel Studios executive Brad Pelo, who jumped ship to join Chosen Inc. He then wrote a letter to his former bosses asking them to give up distribution rights to The Chosen, which could mean losing out on potential big earnings from streaming rights and other mediums.
Pelo spoke to Newsweek in March and pointed out that The Chosen had more than 16,000 investors who contributed a total of $11 million to finance the series.
He argued that those who donated to the equity crowdfunding campaign own a collective 46 percent of Chosen Inc. and are therefore entitled to some of the profits of the TV series—meaning they also have a stake in the outcome of the ongoing legal drama with Angel Studios.
Correction, 6/1/2024 at 11:16 a.m. ET: The article incorrectly called the series The Closer in several instances.
