On Feb. 2, The Chosen, a television show depicting the life of Jesus, took its place at the number one spot for domestic box office sales. The show hosted a special in-theater event where the final two episodes of season three were shown.
The finale generated $1.6 million in first day ticket sales, soaring past the $1 million made by Avatar: The Way of Water, which had held the top spot for 48 days in a row. For the weekend, The Chosen brought in $3.6 million to make it into the top ten, garnering a ninth-place finish overall.
The in-theater event was originally set to run for two days but was extended to four because of the engagement. The last night to see the final two episodes in theaters was this past Monday. However, two of the episodes are already available for streaming.
The fans of the series deserve the praise as they were the ones that made the achievement possible. The Chosen can be watched for free on its website, but fans took to the theaters and bought tickets to support the show.
Creator Dallas Jenkins said in a statement, “We didn’t spend anything on marketing, we weren’t anticipating big numbers. We just wanted to quietly make this available on the big screen to our fans for two days. It’s fun to see them not keep it quiet.”
The show has become a global phenomenon since it first aired back in December of 2017, and has been viewed over an astonishing 400 million times since its release.