The upstart streaming and distribution service Angel Studios has only been around for a few years but has been getting widespread attention for shows like The Chosen (2017-2023 ) and films like Sound of Freedom (2023) and Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Spy, Assassin (2024). The company is run by Mormon brothers who employ a “guild” voting system for tweaking films before mainstream release. The Harmons are overtly motivated by belief-based principles to “tell stories that amplify light.” Jeff Harmon, one of the founders, says “truth should not be something that people look at subjectively.” Yet the studio has been mired in controversy since its inception. Sued by Disney, losing the series The Chosen in legal arbitration, and generating sharp contention about representation in Bonhoeffer, the company’s beliefs impact the way they do business. Angel Studios serves as a contemporary gauge of disputes about what mainstream Christian media is, what it can do, and what it should do.
The Chosen television series was originally made via partnership between the Mormon-run Angel Studios and Dallas Jenkins, its evangelical showrunner. Any television adaptation of the story of Jesus is fraught, since decisions must be made about casting, visualization of biblical materials, as well as about the addition and removal of textual material for dramatic purposes. Some Christians objected to Jenkins’ cooperation with Mormon, Jewish, and Roman Catholic creators, claiming that a difference in theology would translate to troubling differences in representation. For example, in one controversial scene, Jesus appears to comfort a distressed Judas, an action that is both textually and theologically problematic. In another episode Judas casts out a demon.
Sound of Freedom was a surprise hit, the tenth highest grossing film in 2023. The film stars Jim Caviezel, best known for playing Jesus in The Passion of the Christ. Caviezel’s pious take on playing Jesus—that as an actor playing Jesus he too carried the pain of the world—spills over into his mawkish portrayal of Tim Ballard, a real-life special agent who allegedly saves children from a child trafficking ring. Some people have expressed concern about Sound of Freedom’s appeal to far-right groups and QAnon supporters. Others have complained that its representation of sex trafficking is sensationalist and inaccurate. Ballard himself was eventually excommunicated from the Mormon Church after accusations of sexual misconduct. Caviezel’s own commitment to QAnon conspiracies have impacted the reception of the film as he repeats his beliefs about extraction of adenochrome from children in public media.
Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Spy, Assassin was released by Angel Studios as a mainstream film, with many viewers not grasping beforehand its Christian nationalist sentiments. These sentiments become abundantly clear for those who watch the affiliated documentary “Letter to the American Church” hosted by evangelical Eric Metaxas (https://lettertotheamericanchurch.com/) and based on his book of the same name. In “Letter,” Metaxas urges a response to “evil” that sees his Bonhoeffer as the model for evangelicals: inflexible, strident, and willing to kill for his beliefs. Metaxas’ shrill portrait of Bonhoeffer shows up in the Angel Studios biopic as well. The horrific situation of the Jews—in other words, the entire Holocaust—is drab backdrop in the film for a narrative of violent Christian persecution and heroism. The Bonhoeffer family has objected to the film’s portrayal, in particular to Metaxas’ comparison of his political opponents to Nazis, and his social media posts featuring images of a gun and a Bible in support of the Jan. 6 rioters.
Angel Studios contends its films “amplify light” because they are vetted by Christian crowdsourcing. When films don’t make the initial cut, as was the case with Sight (2024), they are sent to be recut. Jeff Harmon says of the Christian editing process: “You’ve got to have somebody whose actually an expert to go take all that noise and turn it into signal.” They see themselves as editors and curators of media that will shape public morality for Christians of all kinds. Angel Studios amplifies its message of Christian exceptionalism with other recent releases including Sabina: Tortured for Christ, the Nazi Years (2021), featuring Christians persecuted by Nazis; Homestead (2024), about Christians living together in a post-apocalyptic context; Nefarious (2023) about a criminal experiencing demonic possession; and Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot (2024) depicting the prescribed role of Christians in adopting abused kids from foster care. They are set to begin work on Fablehaven in summer 2025, a series based on the book of the same name and featuring a witch, a demon, and goblins. It will be interesting to see how they cast these characters in a mold palatable to a large Christian audience.
Angel Studios is a lightning rod of contemporary disputes about the place of Christian belief in media production and reception. Establishing themselves as a “light” in dark times, the company places itself in the role of shaping the moral values of viewers. Although owned and run by Mormon brothers, Angel Studios has established itself as a darling of the far-right, attempting to appeal to a wide Christian viewership. Angel Studios shrewdly uses the flexibility of media production to ideologically shift fixed narratives about biblical figures, theological titans, and political differences, nurturing a business intended to have real political impact—an activity which they see as doing God’s own work.
The Christian streaming and distribution service Angel Studios is a lightning rod of contemporary disputes about the place of Christian belief in mainstream media production and reception. The company's Mormon founders, the Harmon brothers, are overtly motivated by belief-based principles to “tell stories that amplify light.” Jeff Harmon says “truth should not be something that people look at subjectively.” Yet the studio has been mired in controversy since its inception. Sued by Disney, losing the series The Chosen in legal arbitration, and generating sharp contention about representation in Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Spy, Assassin (2024) and Sound of Freedom (2023), the company’s beliefs impact the way they do business. Although owned and run by Mormon brothers, Angel Studios has established itself as a darling of the far-right, attempting to appeal to a wide Christian viewership. Angel Studios serves as a contemporary gauge of disputes about what mainstream Christian media is, what it can do, and what it should do.