The ‘Animated Story of Jesus’ is a new, animated family film about the life of Jesus designed to reach families, new generations, and people of all ages with the story of Jesus.
Anchored in the Gospel of Luke, the film re-imagines the 1979 JESUS film, using much of its dialogue in a refreshed script. The film is slated to release Christmas 2025 and will eventually be in 2,000+ heart languages!
96five’s Alex Milne caught up with Josh Newell, Executive Director of the JESUS Film Project to learn more about the new animated release and the ongoing impact of the original 1979 film.
“It certainly is more than just a movie” Josh said.
“No one could have predicted the impact and certainly the showing in multiple languages. If you would have told them [original producers] that 44 years later it was still having a tremendous impact and ministry all around the world I think everyone would have said you were crazy, in a polite way.
“The word of God is timeless. When we read it, our lives are changes and in a similar way the bible on film or in a visual format has that same type of impact. We’ve seen lives changed all around the world, we know that billions of people have watched it and hundreds of millions have indicated that they’ve started a relationship with Jesus just from watching the Jesus film.”
JESUS (2025) serves as a spectacular remake of the iconic 1979 JESUS film, which holds a Guinness World Record as the most translated film of all time. Fusing unparalleled visual effects and computer graphics, the film benefits from the expertise and talent of a stellar technical and production team, whose credits include Pixar, Disney, and Star Wars.
Dominic Carola, the director of JESUS (2025) has worked on notable animated films such as Mulan, The Lion Kingand Lilo & Stitch and Josh explained that this is about more than entertainment.
“We want it to be compellingly and faithfully telling the story of Jesus in a beautiful artform, in a way that will bring people into the beauty of Jesus’s story and the truth” Josh said.
“We did a lot of research and were thinking about how the story of Jesus could continue to make an impact for this and the next generation, we were hit very squarely with the realization that animation is the medium of this and the next generation. It just made sense.”
Get connected by visiting jesus.film or by downloading the free Insider App to receive regular updates, behind-the-scenes images and ways to pray with us, as the global momentum grows.
Listen to the full interview with Josh Newell in the audio player above.
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