It is one of the oldest stories ever told, but “Eliminated»Works with very new approach to bring the episodic biblical epic to the public. Initially available to broadcast on a dedicated application, “The Chosen” has chosen to present its third and fourth seasons in theaters via Entertainment – An unprecedented decision for an entire television season, in the case of season 4. But the unconventional strategy has made its fruit, with Fathom which is based on $ 72 million to date during the two seasons “The Chosen”, plus a Christmas function. Now prepare to deploy the fifth season of the show, “The Chosen: Last Supper”, from March 27, the specialty distributor withdraws all stops.
It is also a last rodeo for Fathom. The fifth season will be the last distributed by the company, as producers 5 and 2 studios and world distributor Lionsgate recently makes an agreement for American rights with Amazon To broadcast the last two payments as long films. Any potential theatrical race will be managed by Amazon MGM.
When the idea appeared for the first time for having presented “the elected officials” in theaters rather than on the streaming or the cable, “people looked at me as if I was crazy,” said Fathom Entertainment CEO Ray Nutt. “But we had done our research and we knew the potential.”
The franchise of the creator Dallas Jenkins, funded for the first time via crowdfunding, was a successful success, with spin-offs such as “Bear Grylls” The Chosen in the Wild “and Merch, image books with supervised works of art.
The theatrical presale for season 5 are twice as high as they were ahead of season 4, according to Fathom. Nutt predicts that end income could also double, after the “Last Supper” outings on Easter and Passover. The first two episodes will also be first in 250 IMAX locations, a first for a version of Fathom, with around 2,100 locations in total.
The challenge of publishing a series of eight episodes over three weeks is to bring the public back for the two second payments. Fathom therefore decided to allow the public to make up for all the episodes more easily.
“We got to the conclusion that doing something on a festival style was the way to follow,” said Nutt. The first two episodes will take place for a week, with the next three opening a week later, while the first two continue to play. Then, for the last three episodes, the public can watch the last three or the frenzy of the eight. The theaters will offer tickets for the grouping of tickets so that the moviegoers can engage in the full race for a special price.
Since the episodes “The Chosen” are also available free of charge on the application of the show, the theatrical success is particularly notable. (“Binge Jesus”, suggests the home screen.)
“It’s just incredible for me that people will pay for a movie ticket to go see him. It is a tribute to the quality of the content, ”explains Nutt. “The production value is enormous. The narration is beyond belief. And there are people from all religions and sectors who come to see this – it is not only Christians. »»
Fathom has established its reputation with a range of programs, music and opera events to anime through the reminders of classical films. But the denominational content is a cornerstone for the 20 -year -old distributor, representing 40% of income last year. From the “elected official” to “between borders”, gender contributed to overall income growth of 45% in 2024 and 48% in 2023 – a rare positive point in theatrical activities in difficulty.
Building a reputation in this genre means that Fathom can engage directly with denominational audiences, which many distributors would like to be able to do.
“We have established a lot of relationships in this particular area on the content of the content,” explains Nutt. “But more importantly, we have established relationships directly with the consumer. We have databases. We have access to people who went to see this content. This helps to convince producers that Fathom can access a targeted audience for films from other producers, such as “Carlo Acutis: Road Tonds to Reality”, about the first Saint Millennium, opening on April 27.
“Les Goonies”
Another growing area for the company, which last year renamed Fathom events in Fathom Entertainment, is classic film programming. A new list of classics on the big screen with intros of the critic Leonard Maltin will be announced in Cinemacon, says Nutt, after the success of recent projections recent like “The Goonies”.
“You have parents and grandparents who now bring their grandchildren to see a classic film, a” Wizard of Oz “of 80 years or 85 years or anything. You can see many of these movies on television and but people really want to go to the movies and see how it was originally seen by this original audience, ”explains Nutt.
Will the other television series follow and will they try a theatrical version instead of a streaming first? Nutt says that there have been investigations, so it is possible that the exhibitors can have another new tactic in their quest for people to have the multiplex.