‘The King of Kings' arrives in Korea after record-shattering US run
Joy to the world, the Lord has come to offer eternal salvation, Christian tradition tells us. What He likely never foresaw was becoming the star of a South Korean animated feature that just swept the US box office and is now coming home on a wave of buzz.
Created by VFX specialist-turned-rookie director Jang Seong-ho, "The King of Kings" was the outsider no one had on their tracking sheets. In a 17-day sprint, the film leap-frogged "Parasite" to become the top-grossing Korean title ever released in North America, collecting $60.2 million stateside and $67 million worldwide by early June.
Along the way, it toppled benchmarks that had stood for decades: its opening week alone eclipsed Hayao Miyazaki's "Spirited Away" and, by week three, it was trailing just behind "Pokemon: The First Movie" to claim the No. 2 slot for Asian animation in North America -- all without the safety net of a built-in franchise.
Back in Seoul on Wednesday, Jang exuded a victor's confidence at a press conference at CGV Yongsan. Brandishing the tagline 'The Greatest Story Ever Told,' he said, 'I can confidently say this is probably the highest-quality animated film Korea has produced. It's worth every penny of the ticket price -- a film that deserves the big screen.'
From day one, Jang said, the project was strategically engineered for American audiences. 'We needed source material everyone would recognize,' he explained. 'The Bible fit that bill. America was founded by Puritans; I knew the story would resonate.'
Above all, the film turned heads with an A-list English-language voice cast led by Kenneth Branagh, Pierce Brosnan and Oscar Isaac. The Korean dub answers in kind: Lee Byung-hun voices Charles Dickens -- an ironic twist given his recent turn as a demon king in Netflix's "K-Pop Demon Hunters" -- while Lee Ha-nee plays Catherine Dickens and veteran character actor Jin Sun-kyu steps into the sandals of Jesus Christ.
The performances, though earnest, don't always match the polish of veteran voice talents. Jang, however, seemed more than satisfied. Of Lee Byung-hun, who is not religious, he said: 'He became genuinely interested in this universal story of love as we worked. The playful rhythm he found between father and son was fascinating.'
Lee Ha-nee, meanwhile, 'was a revelation,' Jang said. 'If she chose voice acting full-time, she'd be in the top tier.' Casting Jin Sun-kyu as Jesus initially gave him pause -- 'You picture all those villains he's played,' he admits -- but the result, he said, is 'surprisingly youthful and warm,' a testament to the actor's theater-honed projection.
Technically, "The King of Kings" definitely pushes local animation forward. The team built a virtual-production pipeline in Unreal Engine, treating the shoot like live action. 'Our cinematographer lit and shot each scene as if we were on a physical set,' Jang said. 'We captured the actors' movements exactly the same way.'
The bigger question now: Will anyone outside of church circles show up? Churchgoers will likely turn out in force -- some even perhaps shedding tears of redemption. However, its appeal to broader secular audiences remains uncertain. The film is serviceable but hardly spectacular, with its predictable biblical arc perhaps better suited for Sunday school than for mainstream cinema. And with the domestic box office still struggling to recover, the odds aren't entirely in its favor.
Jang remains decidedly optimistic. "Even for general audiences, it's ultimately a story about restoring relationships and love, so I felt they could watch without much resistance," he said.
"For people of faith, I included many biblical metaphors they'll enjoy picking up on. But at its core, this isn't just about Christianity — it's about the human experiences we all share."
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