South Korea’s Mofac Animation has announced that it’s working on The King of Kings, an animated feature based on a story by Charles Dickens about the life of Jesus Christ. The movie, which is directed by Seong-ho Jang, is described as a faith-based project, inspired by a posthumously published story by Dickens. According to the filmmakers, the feature, which is almost finished, will showcase a a top-notch voice cast.
The King of Kings will center on the popular British author and his youngest song Walter as they become immersed in Dickens’ story The Life of Our Lord. The reading of the tale was a holiday tradition in the Dickens’ home, although the story was not published until 1934, decades after the author’s death in 1870. In the movie, Dickens and his son and their cat Willa become engaged in the story of Jesus and his mission. The result is described as “an animated film that makes the biblical journey easily relatable, readily understood and captivatingly entertaining for families.”
The movie’s screenplay was co-written by Jang and Rob Edwards, who is best known for writing Disney’s The Prince and the Frog and Treasure Planet. This is Jang’s directorial debut: He has worked as a visual effects supervisor on movies such as Last Knights, The Monkey King 2 and Starz’s Spartacus series, features the work of cinematographer Woo-Hyung Kim, composer Tae-seong Kim, and voice and casting director Jamie Thomason. Thomason and Andrew Mann are executive producing the film.
“For the past 2,000-plus years, the story of Jesus has been told and retold in countless ways across virtually every country on the planet” says Jang. “This is a deeply personal story to all of us on the production crew, and we know it resonates with so many around the world. The added joy of this little-known iteration is that you see the story unfold not only from Charles Dickens’ unique literary perspective, but through his son Walter’s eyes — which ultimately provides young viewers with even greater access and understanding of who Jesus was and all that he represents.”
Mofac Animation is actively seeking a distribution partner who will provide the most advantageous match to effectively reach the film’s multi-tiered fanbase that captures fan of faith-based films, animated faire and general entertainment. As producer Anfernee Kim points out, “Obviously, this is a universally appealing story to a wide audience, and we look forward to partnering with the appropriate entity for maximum distribution.”
