Light of the World | |
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![]() Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Tom Bancroft John J. Schafer |
Screenplay by | David Armstrong Drew Armstrong |
Story by | David M. Armstrong Jason Heaton |
Produced by | Brennan McPherson |
Starring | Ian Hanlin Benjamin Jacobson |
Edited by | Rob Zeigler |
Music by | Alex McKenzie |
Production company | Salvation Poem Project |
Distributed by | Salvation Poem Project [1] |
Release dates |
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Running time | 91 minutes [2] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $20 million |
Box office | $4.8 million [3] |
Light of the World is a 2025 American animated Christian drama film directed by Tom Bancroft and John J. Schafer. The film is about Jesus' life told through John the Apostle's eyes.
The film premiered at the THSC State Convention on June 6, 2025, and was released in the United States on September 5.
A young John and his older brother James hear a story from their mother of God's plan to bring a Messiah into the world to free his people from darkness, but their father Zebedee doesn't believe. The family sees the father of their neighbors Peter and Andrew get taken away by the Romans. Zebedee tells his sons to obey the Romans and pay their taxes. John is seen as too young to fish, but is sent off to sell fish and bring the money back to Matthew, the tax collector. While at the market, John meets a carpenter who tells him to take a way back home that gets John in trouble with the Romans. When John returns to his family, he has only a single coin, and Matthew demands the family pay double in three days. John decides to get Andrew to help his family catch fish. Andrew is off seeing if The Baptizer is the messiah. John meets the Baptizer, who tells him that Jesus is the messiah. Andrew and John meet Jesus at a wedding where Jesus turns water into wine. John and Andrew bring Jesus to help Zebedee catch a miraculous amount of fish, thus enabling them to pay their taxes.
John, James, Peter and Andrew decide to follow Jesus, along with other men, and Mary Magdalene, who is healed by Jesus. When word of Jesus' healings spreads, a man is lowered into a room through the ceiling for Jesus to heal. The Roman centurion asks Jesus to heal his servant, which Jesus does. His disciples wonder why he helped a Roman centurion, as they believed he would fight the Romans, but he tells them to love their enemies through the parable of the Good Samaritan. John decides to be kind to Matthew, who joins Jesus as a disciple.
Jesus performs other miracles, such as the feeding of the 5,000. The Pharisees, including Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, plot with high priest Caiaphas to get rid of Jesus. They kidnap and kill John the Baptizer, and come after Jesus, while the disciples flee by boat. Jesus walks out on the water and invites Peter to walk out with him. The disciples prepare to triumphantly enter Jerusalem, but Jesus is overcome with burden and prays for his disciples. They enter Jerusalem with Jesus riding a donkey as crowds cheer, and Joseph of Arimathea is healed of blindness. The disciples have their last supper with Jesus, before Jesus is arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus is brought before Pilate as Peter denies knowing Jesus. The Pharisees stir the crowd against Jesus, and the crowd has Barabbas freed. Jesus is led up a hill and crucified. The sky darkens and the temple falls into ruins. Joseph and Nicodemus bury Jesus. Later, Mary Magdelene discovers the tomb empty. Jesus appears as the disciples are fishing and they have another miraculous catch of fish. Jesus ascends to heaven. Zebedee, inspired by his son's faith, decides to follow Jesus.
Epipheo, a Cincinnati studio which launched its film division in 2022, was tapped to help develop the film’s “children’s storybook come to life” aesthetic. Production designer Luke Lehenbauer points out that the creators wanted a “hand of the artist feel,” in part achieved through the application of real painting textures to the digitally painted backgrounds. The animation was provided by Irish animation studio, Lighthouse Studios. [4] [5] The production budget for the film was $20 million. [6]
Light of the World had its world premiere at the THSC State Convention on June 6, 2025. [7] It then premiered at the Bible Museum at Washington, D.C. on August 22, [8] and was released in the United States and Canada on September 5. [9] The film was released a day early in Australia, New Zealand, [10] Fiji, Papua New Guinea, and Samoa. [11] International releases will later follow, like Puerto Rico on September 11, Bolivia on September 18, October 29 in the Philippines, and December 4 in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. [11]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 85% of 13 critics' reviews are positive. [12] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale. [13]