A crowdfunding campaign for the coming TV series nearly doubles the total of the next closest media project.
Planned to be the first ever multi-year series about the life of Jesus, The Chosen brought in nearly $10.25 million from 15,000 people. Its performance is all the more impressive considering that the former number one crowdfunded film - Mystery Science Theater 3000, which tallied $5.76 million - was a reboot and thus had a built-in audience of supporters.
The team behind The Chosen has already shot the first four episodes for season one and hopes to shoot four more. They are spending at least $400,000 on each episode and plan to devote significant resources to marketing as well.
The crowdfunding campaign ended Saturday and came up a bit short of its $12 million target. The filmmakers have now launched a second round and already raised more than $560,000. That means they are less than $1.5 million from their goal. If you'd like to contribute, you can do so via this link.
There is no firm launch date yet for the show, but director Dallas Jenkins said last week he is hoping for some time around Easter. The Chosen will air on VidAngel's streaming platform.
Its pilot episode, which tells the Christmas story from the perspective of the shepherds, is already available via YouTube.