What kind of breakpoint, a daily look, and an ever-changing culture through the lens of unchanging

truth. For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street. Well, even after Easter, a new faith-based

movie out of Hollywood continues to do well at the box office. Angel Studios cartoon, The King of Kings,

quickly surpassed its approximately $25 million price tag, making $19 million in the first week and $17 million in the second.

As of last week, it had topped $64 million and is on track to outpace the opening days of the epic 1998 DreamWorks movie, The Prince of Egypt.

King of Kings retells the story of Christ and is based loosely on the 1840s book by Charles Dickens,

The Life of Our Lord. Its impressive cast includes Oscar Isaac as Jesus,

Pierce Brosnan as pilot, Kenneth Brana as Dickens, Forrest Whitaker as Peter, and Mark Hamill as King Herod.

Opening week's stats like these should encourage studios and execs

and producers to continue to invest in this kind of Christian-friendly filmmaking. Clearly,

there is enough audience interest there. And part of the success is portraying biblical characters

as real-life human beings, along with their frailties, ambitions, and personalities.

The Chosen, the popular crowdfunded series about Jesus and his disciples, is now in its

fourth season, with a reported three more to go.

Its portrayal of the gospel accounts takes considerable license with backstories and character

development, but also feels more real than the overly sanitized Bible films

of the past. It's a trade-off with tight margins. The new Amazon series, The House of David,

takes a similar approach, offering a very human and realistic portrayal of the Old Testament

King and Shepherd Boy. And like The Chosen, the actors actually look like they're from the Middle

East. In fact,

the actor playing King Saul is from Nazareth. The accents, of course, are a bit tougher to nail down.

In the storytelling of the House of David, the Amalekites are not innocent victims. Saul's

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