Team Behind Powerful Movie Leading 633 Million to Embrace Christ Set for Another Major Release

Josh Newell, executive director of the Jesus Film Project, recently announced an effort to further spread the Gospel through a powerful animated movie about Christ’s life and ministry. The new feature film is set to premiere in theaters in 2025.

Listen to them on the latest episode of “Quick Start”

“It flows out of the heart of our mission, which is to reach everyone, everywhere, no matter what language they speak or where they live,” Newell told CBN Digital. “And lifting up the story of Jesus is something we’ve been doing for close to 44 and a half years at this point … it’s really in our DNA.”

The nonprofit leader said the choice to tell Jesus’ story in animated form is important to reaching the next generation in “compelling and relevant ways.”

The original “Jesus” film, released in 1979, has, for decades, been brought to communities across the globe, delivering the Gospel in more than 2,100 languages.

The movie is many times the pathway through which people discover the Lord and begin a spiritual journey with Him. With so many millions impacted by the movie over the years, Newell said he believes the secret to its success is rooted in the film’s reliance on God’s Word.

Watch him explain:

“It’s not just a movie,” Newell said. “That’s really the bottom line; it’s a movement. It’s based off of the Word of God in the Gospel of Luke. So, the script is taken from that.”

He said the “Jesus” film’s inclusion of so many languages also enables people to seamlessly hear the Gospel. With that in mind, the eternal meaning behind Christ’s words resonates.

“To hear Jesus say, ‘I love you’ in their own language … that’s really powerful,” Newell said.

The “Jesus” film has been viewed by an estimated 10 billion people over the past four decades, with 633 million people indicating a decision to follow Jesus. As a result, churches have also been established all over the globe.

The new animated “Jesus” film, set to hit theatres worldwide in December 2025, will build upon the organization’s legacy, using new tools to inspire people to dive deeper into Scripture.

“Animation is … a beautiful art form,” Newell said, noting the new medium opens up the possibility of being able to bring the story into augmented reality, virtual reality, and other means as well. “What animation allows us to do is bring the story of Jesus to life in an art form, in an art medium.”

“The ministry use cases in the future are going to be varied and exciting,” he said. “And this kind of helps us be able to be ready for those moments.”

Newell said his team is working with some of the best people in the animation business to create the movie, collaborating with Dominic Carola of Premise Entertainment, a man who has worked on blockbuster films like “The Lion King.”

In the end, Newell said success for the new venture will be easy to measure.

“We want to reach everyone on earth who doesn’t currently know or have heard about Jesus,” he said. “It’s amazing to me that there are billions on this planet that don’t even know the name of Jesus.”

Newell continued, “So, first and foremost, we have to kind of keep that in mind, because we’re serious about Jesus’ Great Commission … His command to join him as followers of Him to Baptize the nation.”

Find out more about the new animated “Jesus” film here.